Comparable short-term results seen with standard and high-flexion knee arthroplasty designs in European patients

PurposeIn a prospective study we evaluated outcomes of total knee arthroplasty (TKA) procedures in 62 patients with a follow up of 12 months to test our hypothesis that high-flexion CR (cruciate retaining) TKA provides a better range of motion and better outcome than standard CR design in Central European patients with their special problems and demands.MethodsPatients were randomly divided into two groups (high flex vs. standard). The outcome was determined by measuring maximum knee flexion and using the KS-score and the SF-36 score.ResultsAfter 12 months ability to flex the knee significantly improved in both groups to 115° (SD 11) in the high flex group versus 119° (SD 12) in the standard group. There was no difference between the designs regarding maximum flexion (p = 0.78). Overall clinical rating scores significantly improved in both groups, but there was no difference between groups at one year after surgery (p (KSS) = 0.7 and p (SF-36) = 0.63). KS-score values improved from 25 points to 89 points for standard TKAs and from 20 points to 90 points for high flex TKAs. SF-36-score “Physical Functioning” values improved from 33 points to 66 points for standard TKAs and from 27 points to 63 points for high flex TKAs.ConclusionOur results confirm known good results of the procedure and suggest that the benefit of high flex knee designs is similar to standard knee designs one year after index surgery. Further studies are required to evaluate long-term results of both designs.