Outcome results after total knee arthroplasty: does the patient's physical and mental health improve?

An ongoing prospective study with continuing enrollment and follow-up of 279 patients analyzed the postoperative mental and physical outcomes on an interim basis using the SF-36 Physical and Mental Health Summary Scale, which allows for patient self-assessment of total knee arthroplasty (TKA) outcome. Results of this study support the hypothesis that patients can assess their own physical health after surgery and suggest that while physical health component scores increased dramatically subsequent to TKA, mental health component scores remained essentially unchanged. The lack of significant improvement of the mental health component score can be explained in part by noting that the mean mental health component score for the study patient cohort was already above average preoperatively. Thus, mental health component scores did not correlate with the dramatic improvement of physical health component scores. Physical health component score appears to be a more accurate indicator of the benefits of TKA than mental health component score.