Influence of Lateral Retinacular Release on Clinical Outcomes Following Total Knee Aarthroplasty without Resurfacing of the Patella

Shu Yunjun

Abstract：Objective To prospectively compare the effect of lateral retinacular release on the clinical outcomes after total knee arthroplasty (TKA) .Methods From January 2013 to December 2015 ,148 patients with unilateral degenera-tive knee arthritis were treated by TKA .The patients were divided into two groups :release group (lateral retinacular re-leased ,n = 74) and control group (lateral retinacular not released ,n = 74) ,according to the method of computerized random assignment .The anterior knee pain ,Knee Society clinical scoring system (KSS) ,patella score ,patient satisfac-tion and complication rates were recorded and compared these between the two groups .Results Four patients were lost during follow-up in the release group ,four patients in the control group required lateral retinacular release ,according to"no thumb" test ,two patients were lost during follow-up in the control group .These 10 patients were excluded .There were 138 patients (70 in the release group and 68 in the control group) available for analysis .There was no significant difference between the two groups in preoperative general data (P > 0 .05) .All patients achieved the same follow-up time which were 12 months .The incidence of anterior knee pain was 7 .1％ in the release group and 19 .1％ in the control group ,the difference was statistically significant (P = 0 .037) .Patient satisfaction ,KSS ,patella score ,and complication rates were similar in both groups (P > 0 .05) .Conclusion Release of the lateral retinacular in the primary TKA ,can re-duce the postoperative knee pain without increasing complications .