Lateral-compartment Osteophytes are not Associated With Lateral-compartment Cartilage Degeneration in Arthritic Varus Knees

摘要

Background Progression of arthritis in the lateral compartment is one of the main failure modes of unicompartmental knee arthroplasty (UKA). The decision regarding whether to perform a medial UKA sometimes is made based on whether lateral-compartment osteophytes are visible on plain radiographs obtained before surgery, but it is not clear whether the presence of lateral-compartment osteophytes signifies that the cartilage in the lateral compartment is arthritic.