Long-Term Outcomes Favor Patellar Resurfacing During Total Knee Replacement

MONDAY, June 29, 2026 (HealthDay News) -- There was no significant long-term difference in clinical outcomes with or without patellar resurfacing during total knee replacement (TKR), according to a study published online June 17 in The Lancet.David W. Murray, M.D., from University of Oxford in the United Kingdom, and colleagues randomly assigned patients to receive or not receive patellar resurfacing during primary TKR. Analysis included 20-year follow-up data for 132 participants in the patellar resurfacing group and 110 participants in the non-resurfacing group treated between April 8, 1999, and January 13, 2003.The researchers found that the marginal difference in Oxford Knee Score (OKS) over follow-up was 0.76 in favor of patellar resurfacing (95 percent confidence interval, −0.08 to 1.59). While not reaching statistical significance, long-term differences in OKS, the 12-Item Short Form Health Survey, the European Quality of Life 5-Dimensions 3-Levels, readmissions, minor or intermediate operations, patella-related operations, major operations, and complications all favored patellar resurfacing. The resurfaced group accrued significantly more quality-adjusted life-years (QALYs) than the nonresurfaced group (difference, 0.380 at 20 years). There was a nonsignificant lower cost of readmissions in the resurfaced group that offset the higher cost of primary TKR, with no significant differences in overall 20-year health care costs per participant."Although the difference in OKS was small and non-significant, on balance, the evidence is weighted towards resurfacing being the likely approach of first choice," the authors write.Abstract/Full Text.Sign up for our weekly HealthDay newsletter

Long-Term Outcomes Favor Patellar Resurfacing During Total Knee Replacement

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