Could the subvastus approach be the first choice in total knee arthroplasty?

Aim: Total knee replacement procedures are widely used in advanced cases of knee osteoarthritis. Medial parapatellar arthrotomy is one of the most commonly used approaches in total knee replacement. As an alternative to this approach, the subvastus approaches have been developed. The purpose of this study is to compare medial parapatellar and subvastus approaches. Material and Methods: The study population was the archive of the orthopedics and traumatology clinic of a third-level hospital. This is a retrospective study. The study was conducted with 288 participants, including 147 MPPs and 141 SV. Range of motion, pain scores, and functional scores of the patients were recorded. The GENESIS II TKR system was performed for all participants. Results: No significant difference was observed in terms of age, BMI values, and the operated side among the patients. No significant difference was found in KSS values between groups at the 12th week and first-year measurements. However, there were statistically significant differences observed in OKS measurements on the third and tenth days. A significant difference was observed in VAS values measured on the first and third postoperative days. The study groups were analyzed in terms of developing complications. According to the findings, no complications were observed in 136 participants in the MPP group and 129 participants in the SV group. Discussion: Our study concluded that the SV approach should not be the first choice for TKR due to its limitations.