The Present Situation of Patellofemoral Arthroplasty in the Management of Solitary Patellofemoral Osteoarthritis

Patellofemoral (PF) osteoarthritis (OA) is a somewhat predominant illness, affecting up to 24% of women and 11% of men over the age of 55 years who suffer from symptomatic knee OA. The purposes of this narrative overview are to summarize the present situation of patellofemoral arthroplasty (PFA) in the treatment of solitary PF-OA, and to give an account of the clinical results of PFA for the management of solitary PF degenerative OA of the knee. A Cochrane Library and PubMed (MEDLINE) examination related to the position of PFA in PF-OA was carried out. A number of publications have encountered that PFA is an efficacious treatment for solitary PF-OA. Additionally, a systematic review described fairly good results of PFA survivorship and functional outcomes at short- and mid-run follow-up in the setting of solitary PF-OA. Success of PFA depends on accurate patient selection rather than prosthetic failure or wear. In many reports, the main cause of PFA failure is advancement of tibiofemoral OA. In contemporary times, encouraging results have been accomplished by the association of PFA and unicompartmental knee arthroplasty (UKA). In conclusion, patients with solitary PF-OA with severe anterior knee pain may be candidates for PFA. The success of the surgical procedure and the long-run survivorship of PFA are related to a good surgical technique and observation to meticulous indications and contraindications in patient selection. Newer prostheses have also played a part to ameliorated outcomes. PFA is an alternative for younger patients with solitary PF-OA.