| Objective To evaluate the effect of unicompartmental knee arthroplasty (UKA) on unicompartmental osteoarthritis with partial thickness cartilage loss (PTCL).Methods From April 2008 to April 2019, 102 patients (115 knees) with medial compartment PTCL undergoing UKA for anteromedial osteoarthritis (AMOA) in Yangpu Hospital, School of Medicine, Tongji Uniersity, and 102 patients (115 knees) with full thickness cartilage loss (FTCL) with matched age, gender, body mass index (BMI), and follow-up time were used as the control group. Preoperative and postoperative knee functions were assessed using the OKS score, AKS score, and visual analogue scale (VAS), and X-ray imaging assessment was performed.Results All patients had complete follow-up data with an average postoperative follow-up time of (60.0±19.6) months (24-152 months). At the last postoperative follow-up, the two groups of OKS score, AKS-Knee score, AKS-Function score and VAS were significantly higher than those preoperatively (P<0.05). The scores at the follow-up between the PTCL group and FTCL group were similar, with OKS score, AKS-Knee score, AKS-Function score, and VAS, and the differences had no statistical significance (P>0.05). There were 6 knees receiving revision, including 3 knees (2.6%) in the FTCL group and 3 knees (2.6%) in the PTCL group.Conclusion PTCL cannot be simply considered as a UKA contraindication, instead, it should be further subdivided according to the degree and extent of cartilage injury to select a therapeutic regimen. Type Ⅲ and Ⅳ cartilage injuries have the same clinical features as FTCL, and should not be regarded as surgical contraindications. Weight-bearing X-ray had a good suggestive effect on cartilage injury, and when the joint space ratio of medial to lateral compartments≤30%, UKA could obtain good surgical effect. |
