Long-term survivorship of a unicondylar knee replacement--a case report

Unicondylar knee arthroplasty (UKA) was introduced in the 1970s as a treatment option for isolated knee compartment gonarthrosis. Early results were discouraging secondary to poor patient selection, suboptimal surgical technique, and inferior prosthetic design. In recent years, there has been resurgence in the use of the UKA. Improvements in implant design, surgical technique, and patient selection have led to multiple studies demonstrating 94-98% survivorship of the implants at a 10 year follow-up. However, there still remains a paucity of evidence with regard to this treatment option for young, active patients. This case report presents the longest recorded follow-up (31 years) of a UKA in a young, active patient and it highlights that with appropriate patient selection and meticulous surgical technique, UKA may have a role as a long term treatment option in patients with isolated unicompartmental disease.