Arthroplasty

A full description of an arthroplasty procedure will be published in the AO Surgery Reference at a later stage.

In elderly patients with osteoarthritis of the knee, it may be inappropriate to attempt fracture fixation. This is a rare situation. It may be better to consider primary joint replacement with the assistance of a specialist knee arthroplasty surgeon. However, it must be recognized that, because of the supracondylar component of the fracture, the result of such a total knee arthroplasty would be significantly worse than an elective primary knee arthroplasty. It may be necessary to use a complex knee prosthesis, such as those with rotating hinges. In very difficult such distal femoral fractures, mega-prosthesis may be required. The age and body habitus of the patient is most important. These fractures cause significant immobilization difficulty and challenges to biomechanics and weight bearing. This is especially relevant in the old obese female who has no strength to mobilize non-weight bearing.

A full description of an arthroplasty procedure will be published in the AO Surgery Reference at a later stage.