Abstract
For many patients, UKA is a good alternative to total knee arthroplasty (TKA) or high tibial osteotomy (HTO). Strong evidence that gender influences outcomes following UKA could alter UKA selection criteria. No prior series has been specifically designed and matched to compare outcomes based on gender. The purpose of this study was to elucidate the effect of gender on the clinical outcome of UKA while controlling for other variables that may affect outcome.
Between 1988 and 2006, 257 UKA's were carried out in our department. We studied two groups of 40 patients of each gender, matched by pre-operative clinical and radiological presentation, and with post-operative follow up of at least 2 years. The mean age at operation was 71 years and the mean follow-up was 5.9 years. In both groups, IKS score improved significantly.
When comparing the male and female groups post-operatively, no significant differences were found between IKS knee or function scores, limb alignment, or the incidence of radiolucent lines. No difference was found between groups in terms of range of motion or radiologic progression of arthritis. Both tibial (p<0.001) and femoral (p<0.001) component sizes were significantly larger in the male group than the female group. For males, the size of both the femoral (r2=0.12, p=0.033) and tibial (r2=0.29, p=0.0005) components correlated with patient height. For females, the size of neither the femoral (r2=0.000082, p=0.96) nor tibial (r2=0.0065, p=0.63) components correlated with patient height.
The key finding in this study is that when patients are selected for UKA according to specific selection criteria (including avoiding performance of UKA in younger patients and patients over 85 kg), gender is not a predictor of outcome based on IKS scores. When using these selection criteria, gender should not be considered when determining whether to perform a UKA.
