Unicompartmental knee replacement: a historical overview

There is currently a growing demand for unicompartmental knee replacement (UKR) to treat degenerative osteoarthritis or osteonecrosis of a single compartment of the knee. This procedure has evolved significantly over the past three decades and we here present a brief review of the literature on this topic. This historical overview traces the hypotheses that have led to the modern state of the art in minimally invasive UKR surgery and to the revival of the concept of interpositional hemiarthroplasty.