Total knee replacement in acute and chronic traumatic events

Abstract

Total knee replacement (TKR) is a widely used procedure for the treatment of post-traumatic arthritis. This type of solution has also been used recently for the treatment of acute fractures around the knee, particularly in joints that were already arthritic before the trauma. The purpose of this paper is to present our experience with TKR in both acute and chronic traumatic events, highlighting the main problems associated with these conditions and focussing on the indications, principles of technique, tips, tricks and pitfalls of this procedure. The main issues related to post-traumatic arthritis and the problem of TKR in acute fractures are discussed, and our case series of both groups of patients is presented.