RESEARCH ARTICLE
Surgical Release of Severe Flexion Contracture for Oncologic Knee Arthroplasty
Vincent Y. Ng1, *, Philip Louie2, Stephanie Punt3, Ernest U. Conrad3
Article Information
Identifiers and Pagination:
Year: 2017Volume: 11
First Page: 45
Last Page: 50
Publisher ID: TOORTHJ-11-45
DOI: 10.2174/1874325001711010045
Article History:
Received Date: 21/11/2016Revision Received Date: 02/01/2017
Acceptance Date: 06/01/2017
Electronic publication date: 24/02/2017
Collection year: 2017
open-access license: This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Public License (CC-BY 4.0), a copy of which is available at: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode. This license permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Abstract
Background:
Severe postoperative knee contractures after arthroplasty or megaprosthesis reconstruction occur rarely, but are devastating complications. Management of preoperative flexion contractures is well-described, but there is a paucity of literature for surgical treatment of postoperative contractures.
A retrospective chart review was performed for a single surgeon of cases between 1996 and 2014.
Results:
Nine patients (5 of 66 for pediatrics; 4 of 95 for adults) underwent surgical release for severe stiffness after implantation of knee megaprosthesis. The total arc of motion was improved from a preoperative mean of 34° (range, 10° to 70°) to a postoperative mean 89° (63° to 125°). The amount of extension improved by a mean of 27° (range, -3° to +70°) and the amount of flexion improved by a mean of 28° (range, -10° to +75°).
Conclusion:
Surgical release of severe postoperative knee contracture is a challenging procedure, but in most cases, the amount of extension and flexion can be improved, yielding a greater total arc of motion.
