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Fat-pad impingement after total knee arthroplasty with the LCS A/P-Glide system

  • Knee
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Knee Surgery, Sports Traumatology, Arthroscopy Aims and scope

Abstract

Early follow-up (15.8 months;1–48) of 230 knee replacements with an LCS A/P Glide component indicated an increased occurrence of anterior knee pain due to a fat-pad impingement, necessitating early revision surgery. Unsatisfactory results were observed in 28 knees (12.2%). Thirteen knees (5.7%) were revised on finding the fat-pad impingement, and four knees (1.7%) were scheduled for later revision surgery; the remaining 11 subjects (4.8%) had revision surgery for a different reason. Twenty-six subjects (11.3%) complained about milder but typical symptoms of a fat-pad impingement, and 22 subjects (9.6%) had unspecific mild symptoms. 151 knees (65.7%) were free of pain and demonstrated an excellent result. The total revision rate of 10.4% (24 knees) is higher than described for other implant systems. However, the revision needed to treat the fat-pad impingement (5.7%) consisted of minor surgery only, such as exchange of the mobile bearing or reduction of the fat pad by arthroscopy. The femoral and tibial components were able to be left untouched. Resection of the Hoffa’s fat pad is recommended when such an implant system is used, and possible impingement should be investigated intraoperatively before closure.

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Acknowledgements

Many thanks to M. Pidermann and his team for entering and retrieving the data to and from the database. No financial assistance was provided for this work. This work complies with the current law of Switzerland.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Schulthess Clinic, Lengghalde 2, 8008 , Zürich, Switzerland

    Inès A. Kramers-de Quervain, Wolfgang Miehlke, Tomas Drobny & Urs Munzinger

  2. Department of Radiology, Division of Nuclear Medicine, University of Zürich, 8091, Zürich, Switzerland

    Ivette Engel-Bicik

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  1. Inès A. Kramers-de Quervain
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  2. Ivette Engel-Bicik
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  3. Wolfgang Miehlke
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Correspondence to Inès A. Kramers-de Quervain.

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Kramers-de Quervain, I.A., Engel-Bicik, I., Miehlke, W. et al. Fat-pad impingement after total knee arthroplasty with the LCS A/P-Glide system. Knee Surg Sports Traumatol Arthrosc 13, 174–178 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00167-004-0492-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00167-004-0492-x

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