Severe Bilateral Fixed Flexion Deformity-Simultaneous or Staged Total Knee Arthroplasty?

Outcomes of 29 simultaneous (SimBTKA) and 38 staged bilateral total knee arthroplasty (StaBTKA) subjects with severe (>= 16 degrees) bilateral fixed flexion deformity (FFD) were retrospectively investigated. SimBTKA patients were significantly younger (63 +/- 8 vs 68 +/- 7, P > .01). At 2 years, SimBTKA subjects had significantly better residual FFD (2.5 degrees +/- 5.1 degrees vs 5.4 degrees +/- 6.6 degrees, P = .02) and Knee Society function score (75.7 +/- 25.7 vs 69.3 +/- 24.1, P = .02). However, Knee Society knee scores, Oxford Knee Scores, and Short Form-36 scores were similar. These suggest no large clinical advantage of SimBTKA over StaBTKA. We feel that severe bilateral FFD is not an absolute indication for SimBTKA. (C) 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.