Revision total knee arthroplasty: hybrid vs standard cemented fixation

Modular systems with stems are necessary for the stability of revision total knee arthroplasty (rTKA), but controversy remains as to the best fixation method: cemented or hybrid (noncemented stem). The aim of this study was to assess the clinical, X-ray, life-quality and survival results obtained with each fixation method. During the period 2000-2013, rTKA was performed on 67 patients (29 cemented arthroplasty and 38 hybrid fixation). The average follow-up was 7 years (range 2-15). All patients were evaluated clinically and radiographically using the American Knee Society Score (AKSS), the Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Arthritis Index (WOMAC), and the Short Form Health Survey (SF-36). A survival study was performed via Kaplan-Meier analysis. There were no differences between the cemented and hybrid fixation groups in the preoperative and postoperative AKSS clinical evaluation indices and the SF-36 health index. However, the WOMAC assessment scale did reveal statistically significant differences between the groups, with a global classification of 64.9 points weighted at 100 (SD 16.8) for cemented fixation versus 78.9 (SD 9.0) for hybrid fixation (p = 0.001). The corresponding values for stiffness were 61.6 (SD 12.9) and 80.5 (SD 14.7) (p = 0.001), and those for function were 61.3 (SD 19.4) and 78.1 (SD 10.5) (p = 0.001). No significant differences between the groups were recorded with respect to the pain score (p = 0.4) or the results of the Kaplan-Meier survival analysis. Although the results were similar for the two groups, hybrid fixation tended to produce better results than cemented fixation. In view of the risk of further loosening, we prefer the more conservative approach, i.e. hybrid fixation. Level III.