Postoperative Joint Scores of Comparison between total and unicondylar knee arthroplasty：A matched comparison

Objective： To investigate the patient self-reported outcomes and clinical results of unicondylar arthroplasty versus total knee arthroplasty for osteoarthritis of the knee. To evaluate the early functional recovery of patients after both surgical modalities. Methods： In this retrospective study, 52 patients (26 patients in the unilateral UKA group; 26 patients in the unilateral TKA group) with osteoarthritis of the knee were treated with unicondylar arthroplasty and total knee arthroplasty to compare the baseline and perioperative data of the patients in the UKA group and the TKA group, the modified Postoperative Joint Forgetting Score (MFJS), Oxford Early Recovery Score for Knee Arthroplasty (OARS) at 1, 2, 6 week and 3 month postoperatively, and Oxford Early Change Score for Knee Arthroplasty (OACS) at 1, 2, 6 week, and 3, 6 and 12 month postoperatively. Results： The general clinical data (age, gender, body mass index) of patients in the UKA and TKA groups were not statistically significant ( P >0.05) and were comparable.The operation time and intraoperative bleeding in the UKA group were lower than those in the TKA group ( P <0.001). At 3, 6 and 12 month after surgery, the MFJS scores of patients in the UKA group were higher than those of patients in the TKA group ( P <0.001). OARS scores at 1, 2, 6 week and 3 month postoperatively were higher in the UKA group than in the TKA group ( P <0.05). There was no statistically significant difference in the comparison of OACS scores between the unilateral UKA and TKA groups at 1 week postoperatively ( P >0.05), and the scores of the unilateral UKA group were higher than those of the unilateral TKA group at 2, 6 week, and 3, 6, and 12 month ( P <0.05). Conclusion： Both UKA and TKA are effective in improving functional scores in end-stage osteoarthritis of the knee.UKA has better knee proprioception and faster postoperative recovery compared to TKA.