Short Term Outcomes of a Hydroxyapatite Coated Metal Backed Patella

We retrospectively evaluated the records and radiographs of 101 knees with a hydroxyapatite coated metal backed patella (HAP) and 50 knees with a cemented polyethylene patella (CP) with minimum two year clinical follow up. There were no patellar revisions during the study period. Patients in both the HAP and CP groups had similar clinical outcomes at final follow-up. Forty-five percent of patients in the HAP group had 1-2 mm areas of decreased trabecular bone density around the pegs, which were not observed in the CP group, and may represent stress shielding. This uncemented HAP component has satisfactory early clinical outcomes, but long-term follow up is necessary to determine the durability of this implant.