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Salvage Knee Surgery: Arthrodesis

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Revision Total Knee Arthroplasty

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Abstract

Arthrodesis as a salvage procedure remains a durable, time-proven technique for treatment of sepsis, tumor, failed arthroplasty, and the flail limb. It should be performed selectively, especially in light of modern arthroplasty and the increasingly favorable results of two-stage reimplantation. Arthrodesis of the knee can be performed via various techniques. Each technique has a role in these difficult salvage knee cases. Primary arthrodesis or fusion of the knee is an uncommon procedure performed in the twenty-first century. It is rarely performed primarily for arthritis. The main role of knee arthrodesis is as a salvage procedure for an unrevisable failed total knee arthroplasty (TKA). Arthrodesis of the knee, in the face of grossly deficient bone stock and ligamentous instability, is difficult to achieve. In limb salvage surgery for malignant and potentially malignant lesions about the knee, resection arthrodesis using an intramedullary rod and local bone graft has been reported as a successful primary procedure.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Orthopedic Surgery, Wake Forest Baptist Health, Medical Center Boulevard, Winston-Salem, NC, 27157, USA

    Maxwell K. Langfitt M.D.

  2. Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH, USA

    Olivia J. Bono

  3. Parkview Orthopaedic Group, 7600 West College Dr., 3rd Floor, Palos Heights, IL, 60463, USA

    Steven R. Wardell M.D.

  4. Department of Orthopedic Surgery, Tufts University School of Medicine, 145 Harrison Ave, Boston, MA, 02111, USA

    James V. Bono M.D.

  5. Department of Orthopedics, New England Baptist Hospital, 125 Parker Hill Ave, Fremont-Smith Building Suite 573, Boston, MA, 02120, USA

    James V. Bono M.D.

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  1. Maxwell K. Langfitt M.D.
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  2. Olivia J. Bono
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  3. Steven R. Wardell M.D.
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  4. James V. Bono M.D.
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Correspondence to James V. Bono M.D. .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Clinical Professor of Orthopedic Surgery, Tufts University School of Medicine, Boston, Massachusetts, USA

    James V. Bono

  2. Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery, Emeritus, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA

    Richard D. Scott

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Langfitt, M.K., Bono, O.J., Wardell, S.R., Bono, J.V. (2018). Salvage Knee Surgery: Arthrodesis. In: Bono, J., Scott, R. (eds) Revision Total Knee Arthroplasty. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-67344-8_28

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