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Is Popliteus Tendon a Redundant Structure in Total Knee Arthroplasty?

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Abstract

Background

Many studies have shown that injury to the popliteus tendon has little consequence for the static stability of the knee following total knee arthroplasty (TKA). However, very few studies have evaluated the effect of intraoperative iatrogenic popliteus tendon injury on the patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs) following TKA. This study aimed to determine the incidence of iatrogenic popliteus tendon injury in our subset of the population and to find out its effect on PROMs.

Methods

100 consecutive osteoarthritic varus knees with flexion deformities less than 20° were operated upon by a single senior experienced arthroplasty surgeon. Patients were assessed intraoperatively for any iatrogenic popliteus tendon injury, the injury site, and the amount of injury which was quantified and graded. PROMs applied for assessment at 1-year follow-up were Knee Society Score (KSS 1), Knee Function Score (KSS 2), and Western Ontario and McMaster University Osteoarthritis Index (WOMAC).

Results

17% of cases had an iatrogenic popliteus tendon injury. Thirteen had grade II injuries, whereas four had grade III injuries. There was no statistical significance in post-operative knee mobility and PROMs among those with popliteus tendon injury versus non-injured patients.

Conclusion

The incidence of iatrogenic popliteus tendon injury is higher than what we expected. The tendon injury remains a risk, but it is unclear how the popliteus tendon injury will affect patients after the TKA. In our series, such an injury during knee replacement does not affect the functioning of the knee in the short term; however, a long-term follow-up is warranted.

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Funding

The authors did not receive any grants/funds to conduct the study.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. MIOS, Medica Superspecialty Hospital, Kolkata, West Bengal, 700099, India

    Vikash Kapoor, Ashish Raj, Anirban Chatterjee & Kaustav Debnath

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  1. Vikash Kapoor
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  2. Ashish Raj
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  3. Anirban Chatterjee
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  4. Kaustav Debnath
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Correspondence to Ashish Raj.

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The authors have no conflict of interest to declare.

Ethical approval

Approval was granted by the Institutional ethics committee of Medica Superspecialty Hospital vide reference number CREC/2022/1(vi).

Informed consent

All procedures followed were in accordance with the ethical standards of the responsible committee on human experimentation (institutional and national) and with the Helsinki Declaration of 1975, as revised in 2008. Informed consent was obtained from all patients to be included in the study.

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Kapoor, V., Raj, A., Chatterjee, A. et al. Is Popliteus Tendon a Redundant Structure in Total Knee Arthroplasty?. JOIO (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s43465-024-01173-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s43465-024-01173-9

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