Medial Unicompartmental Osteoarthritis (MUO) of the Knee: Unicompartmental Knee Replacement (UKR) or Total Knee Replacement (TKR)

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The aim of this review article is to analyze the clinical effectiveness of total knee replacement (TKR) compared to unicompartmental knee replacement (UKR) in patients with medial unicompartmental osteoarthritis (MUO) in terms of survival rates, revision rates and postoperative complications. The search engine was MedLine. The keywords used were: medial knee osteoarthritis. Three thousand and ninety-six articles were found on 28 April 2014. Of those, only twenty-eight were selected and reviewed because they were strictly focused on the topic of this article. Compared with those who have TKR, patients who undergo UKR have higher revision rates and lower survival rates at 5, 10 and 15 years. The reported overall risk of postoperative complications for patients undergoing TKR is 11%, compared with 4.3% for patients undergoing UKR. In conclusion, UKR have higher revision rates and lower survival rates than TKR. There is, however, an increased risk of postoperative complications after TKR.