The arthroscopic treatment of unicompartmental gonarthrosis: A five-year follow-up study of abrasion arthroplasty plus arthroscopic debridement and arthroscopic debridement alone

Abstract

A retrospective review with a mean follow-up time of 60 months was performed on 126 patients who had treatment of unicompartmental gonarthrosis with either abrasion arthroplasty plus arthroscopic debridement or arthroscopic debridement alone. Fifty-nine patients had abrasion arthroplasty and arthroscopic debridement, and 67 patients had arthroscopic debridement alone. All patients had stage II Ahlba¨ck changes roentgenographically, as well as Outerbridge stage IV changes arthroscopically in the involved compartment. All the knees were evaluated postoperatively at a minimum of 60 months, utilizing The Hospital For Special Surgery Knee Scoring System. In the group treated with abrasion arthroplasty, 51% had good to excellent results, 16% had fair results, and 33% had poor results. The conditions of ten of the patients who had poor results actually became worse subsequent to their abrasion arthroplasty. In the group that had arthroscopic debridement, 66% had good to excellent results, 13% had fair results, and 21% had poor results. The conditions of 12 of the patients who had poor results actually became worse subsequent to the arthroscopic debridement.