Related Experiment Video
Updated: Mar 26, 2026

The Transition to an Anterior-Based Muscle Sparing Approach Improves Early Postoperative Function but is Associated with a Learning Curve
Published on: September 7, 2022
Effect of patellar denervation on mid-term results after non-resurfaced total knee arthroplasty. A randomised,
Unlabelled:
Aim of this study is to determine the clinical effect of circumpatellar electrocautery on cases undergoing non-resurfaced total knee arthroplasty.
Patients And Methods:
184 patients undergoing non-resurfaced total knee arthroplasty were included and randomized into two, patient and outcome assessor-blinded, parallel groups: 92 patient in denervation group & 92 patients in no-denervation group. Pre-operative and final most recent follow up's Western Ontario McMaster score and anterior knee pain rating were used for statistical analysis.
Results:
There was no statistically significant difference between both groups preoperatively in anterior knee pain, WOMAC score, or range of motion. While on all the three parameters there was a statistically significant difference in improvement in favor of denervation group.
Discussion:
Our study demonstrated that post-operative functional score and anterior knee pain score were significantly better in electrocauterised group. This shows that patellar denervation significantly improve clinical outcome and decreased anterior knee pain in NR-TKA.

