Author:
Goodfellow John,O'Connor John,Pandit Hemant,Dodd Christopher,Murray David
Abstract
Total knee arthroplasty is an effective treatment for most types of arthritis of the knee and requires little of the joint’s anatomy to be intact for a successful outcome. On the other hand, unicompartmental arthroplasty can only succeed if the rest of the knee is functionally intact before surgery. We will discuss, first, the pathology of osteoarthritis (OA) of the knee and then how to ascertain, before operating, that the ligaments are all functionally normal and the retained articular surfaces capable of resuming their weight-bearing role.