Short-term outcomes of unresurfaced patellas in total knee arthroplasty

Selective patellar resurfacing continues in total knee arthroplasty (TKA). We define the demographics of patients selected for this procedure and report their short-term, aseptic revision rate. A community-based Total Joint Replacement Registry (TJRR) comprising 39,000 TKAs with median follow-up of 24.5 months was evaluated. Patients who underwent bicompartmental TKA were younger (p < 0.001), suffered posttraumatic arthrosis (p < 0.001), and receive hybrid fixation (p < 0.001). In multivariate analysis, the unresurfaced patella is an independent risk factor for early revision with a relative increased risk of 2.3 (95% CI, 1.4-3.7). The cumulative survivorship at 6 years for tricompartmental TKA is 98.1 versus 93.6% for bicompartmental knees (p < 0.001). Despite selecting patients with presumably healthier patellofemoral joints for bicompartmental TKA, the unresurfaced patella remains a risk factor for early revision.