CEMENTLESS KNEE TECHNOLOGY: HOLD OFF?

A research team including Dr. Brett R Levine, a joint replacement specialist at Midwest Orthopaedics at Rush, recently presented a study to compare patient-reported outcomes and complications in patients with cemented and cementless techniques at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons.

The scientists utilized data on 70 cementless knees and cemented controls matched on age, body mass index, medical comorbidities, and implant design. According to their presentation, the authors found a 30% total complication rate in the cementless fixation group and 7% in the cemented fixation group.

According to Dr. Levine, “Cementless knee technology has improved but currently still seems inferior to cemented techniques. We didn’t think there would be such a difference in the number of revisions for cementless knees as we found. In this series the cemented knees had no revisions; in the cementless knees there were seven revisions for loosening and three others for issues not related to cementless knees.”

For the full Orthopedics This Week article and complete list of researchers, click here.