Background: Management of adolescent patients with end-stage arthritis is challenging. Nonoperative treatments may be ineffective and total knee arthroplasty (TKA) is rarely performed. Currently, minimal long-term data are available on the outcomes in this patient population. Our goal was to describe TKA for patients with end-stage arthritis who were aged 20 years and younger.
Methods: The Joint Registry at our institution was used to identify 19 patients (29 TKAs) aged 20 years and younger that underwent a primary TKA. The average age was 18 years (range 14-20 years) and follow-up was 14.5 years (range: 2.1-25.5 years).
Results: The preoperative diagnoses were juvenile idiopathic arthritis (n = 19), avascular necrosis (n = 4), sepsis (n = 2), trauma (n = 2), dysplasia (n = 1), and hemophilia (n = 1). There was a decrease in the number of TKAs performed for inflammatory arthritis over the last several decades. Implant survivorship at 5 and 10 years was 96% and 94%, respectively.
Conclusions: We identified a 95% 10-year implant survivorship utilizing standard TKA components in pediatric patients. Performing a TKA in adolescent patients has long-term potential risks including infection and bone loss but may provide pain relief and good long-term results and should be used with caution.
Keywords: Adolescent orthopedics; Arthritis; Total knee arthroplasty.