Total Knee Replacement Arthroplasty with Buechel and Pappas Knee: Minimum 2-Year Follow-up

BACKGROUND: Clinical and radiologic evaluation and analyses of the surgeries using Buechel and Pappas (B-P) knee implants. METHODS: The study was conducted on 60 patients who underwent 94 total knee replacement arthroplasty with B-P knee implants from May 2009 to December 2010. The results were compared to the results of 41 patients who underwent 60 knee joint surgeries using NexGen-LPS implants from January 2008 to August 2009. RESULTS: The American Knee Society score of the B-P knee group increased from an average of 66.9 (clinical score) and 65.5 (functional score) to 93.4 and 90.3, respectively; while those for the NexGen-LPS group increased from an average of 68.8 (clinical score) and 62.4 (functional score) to 86.3 and 76, respectively. The average ranges of motion of the B-P knee group and the NexGen-LPS group were 119.1° and 114.8°, respectively, before surgery and improved to 121.0° and 123.0° at final follow-up after the surgery. The visual analogue scale scores for the B-P knee group and the NexGen-LPS group improved from 4.7 and 4.6 to 1.4 and 1.8, respectively. The flexion contracture also improved from 5.1° and 6.3° to 0.64° and 1.72°. The tibio-femoral angle for the B-P knee group and the NexGen-LPS group also improved greatly after the surgery, from varus 0.34° and 0.73° each to valgus 6.7° and 6.9°, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: The evaluation of more than 2 years of total knee replacement arthroplasty using B-P knee implants showed good results. B-P knee implants showed a relatively higher degree of satisfaction in clinical knee score and less intraoperative bone mass removal than NexGen-LPS implants.