Abstract
Total knee arthroplasty (TKA) is a procedure with excellent clinical results in older
patients with a primary diagnosis of osteoarthritis. Many younger patients undergo
unicompartmental or high tibial osteotomy rather than TKA, but are not always good
candidates for these joint-preserving procedures. The purpose of this study was to
review the outcomes of patients 40 years of age and under who underwent TKA. We identified
33 patients (38 knees) who were 40 years of age or less at the time of surgery. These
patients had a mean age of 36 years (range, 23 to 40 years), and were followed for
a mean of 49 months (range, 16 to 101 months). The survival rate in the study cohort
was 97%. For the young patient who is not a candidate for other types of joint preserving
procedures, in the senior authors' experience total knee arthroplasties have performed
well.
Keywords
total knee arthroplasty - indications - young patients - under 40
