Posterior Dislocation of Total Knee Arthroplasty

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Posterior dislocation of the prosthesis after total knee arthroplasty is an infrequent but serious complication. Seven patients with this complication were treated from January 1985 until October 1989. Five of the seven dislocations occurred in primary total knee arthroplasties and two occurred after revision arthroplasty. Limb alignment before arthroplasty, when it could be determined, was valgus in all patients, averaging 25 degrees. In each case there was an identifiable problem with the knee extensor mechanism: five had patellar dislocations, one a patellar tendon rupture, and one a patellar fracture. In three of the posterior dislocations, there was also an imbalance of the flexion and extension gaps with excessive laxity of the ligaments in flexion. Treatment was individualized. In two patients, the knee was reduced closed and the patella subsequently tracked so that no reoperation was necessary. One ruptured patellar tendon could not be repaired in a 94-year-old patient with cardiac disease. A cylinder cast was applied with poor results. Operative intervention was required in four patients, one of whom required only a patellar realignment procedure. The three other patients required component revision procedures, however, in addition to patellar realignment procedures. In these three patients, laxity of the knee in flexion was so severe that posterior instability could not be corrected merely by patellar relocation. At a follow-up examination (average, 21 months postoperatively), all six patients who were treated as recommended had good results with no further dislocations, with the exception of the one patient with a patellar tendon rupture.