Long-term comparison of mobile-bearing vs fixed-bearing total knee arthroplasty

Few published reports have been published regarding a comparison of the long-term outcomes between mobile- (MB) and fixed-bearing component designs for knee arthroplasty. The minimum 10-year clinical and radiologic follow-up of an unselected consecutive series of 89 patients (107 knees) who were randomized to have one of these different designs for primary arthroplasty was done. Twenty-six patients (30 knees) who had a fixed-bearing design and 24 patients (33 knees) who had an MB prosthesis were available for follow-up. Two MB knees were revised for aseptic loosening of a tibial component in one and femoral component fracture in the other. In patients who did not have revision surgery, there were no differences between the groups with respect to mean Knee Society scores, knee flexion, or pain scores.