Charcot neuroarthropathy of the knee

Abstract

Background In contrast to CN of the foot, which is gaining increasing interest, CN of the knee is hardly recognised. There have been publications about CN of the knee in recent years, but nearly all of them are only case reports and deal with endoprosthetics. There are only 2 systematic descriptions of CN of the knee. Results Based on one patient, the clinical course, characteristics and treatment options are detailed and set into the context of a previous publication of three cases of CN of the knee. CN of the knee and CN of the foot have the same episodic course with flares. In all cases, the same treatment principals as in CN of the foot (immediate immobilisation und offloading) led to an inactive stage with consolidation, so that all patients were able to walk again with orthoses but without surgery. All patients had diabetes mellitus with multiple complications (3 x type 1 diabetes, 1 x type 2 diabetes), and all patients suffered from advanced polyneuropathy of the lower extremity. Conclusion CN of the knee is a severe complication of polyneuropathy and should not be overlooked. The same criteria for diagnosis and treatment as in CN of the foot proved to be successful