[Differences between lateral and medial unicompartmental prostheses]

The literature does not report any difference between lateral and medial unicompartmental prostheses.Analysis of published series shows few differences regarding short-term results obtained with both types of prosthesis.Yet, real differences do exist, although these are differences between patients.As regards etiology, sex and morphotype, patients amenable to medial unicompartmental arthroplasty are different from those amenable to lateral unicompartmental arthroplasty. This is particularly obvious in cases of primary degenerative kneejoint disease, which confirms the difference which exists between medial and lateral degenerative knee joint disease.Regarding optimal corrections, it appears that slight overcorrection (<5°) is well tolerated medially. Laterally, the problem is completely different.Finally, long-term survival curves seem to confirm that lateral UKA has a higher success rate.