Abstract:

Unicompartmental knee arthroplasty(UKA) is an effective surgical treatment for the endstage osteoarthritis of knee, and with good long-term clinical results. However similar to total knee arthroplasty (TKA), there still exist postoperative complications that affect the clinical outcomes of UKA. Once complications occur, the treatment is challenging for orthopedic surgeons. Through retrospective analysis of the literatures, this review discussed the clinical diagnosis and treatment of complications during and after medial UKA and analyzed the risk factors that lead to the complications and the methods to prevent the complications, hence to improve the clinical efficacy of UKA. Results of the analyses have shown that the incidence of complications after UKA is lower in comparison with TKA. The perioperative complications of UKA include aseptic loosening of prosthesis, progression of arthritis in lateral compartment, unexplained pain, wear of polyethylene, mobile-bearing dislocation, periprosthetic joint infection (PJI), periprosthetic fracture, deep venous thrombosis (DVT), bone cement residue and metal allergy, etc. The main causes for complications are improper surgical indications, poor surgical technique and inadequate perioperative management. Based on these factors, effective measures to avoid postoperative complications should be taken to select suitable patients, master standardised surgical techniques and procedures, and pay more attention to perioperative management. For treatment of complications, conservative or surgical treatment should be applied individually according to types and causes of the complications.

Key words: Knee, Osteoarthritis, Arthroplasty, replacement, knee, Diagnosis, Therapeutics