Effect of patellar denervation on mid-term results after non-resurfaced total knee arthroplasty A randomised, controlled trial

Aim of this study is to determine the clinical effect of circumpatellar electrocautery on cases undergoing non-resurfaced total knee arthroplasty. Patients and methods : 184 patients undergoing non resurfaced total knee arthroplasty were included and randomized into two, patient and outcome assessor blinded, parallel groups : 92 patient in denervation group & 92 patients in no-denervation group. Preoperative and final most recent follow up's Western Ontario McMaster score and anterior knee pain rating were used for statistical analysis. Results : There was no statistically significant difference between both groups preoperatively in anterior knee pain, WOMAC score, or range of motion. While on all the three parameters there was a statistically significant difference in improvement in favor of denervation group. Discussion : Our study demonstrated that postoperative functional score and anterior knee pain score were significantly better in electrocauterised group. This shows that patellar denervation significantly improve clinical outcome and decreased anterior knee pain in NR-TKA.