The pathogenesis of bone loss following total knee arthroplasty.

Bone loss following total knee arthroplasty (TKA) may be focal or diffuse. It may be caused mechanically, either by unloading of the bone leading to disuse osteoporosis, or by overloading of the bone leading to trabecular fractures and bone destruction. Osteolysis, instigated by an inflammatory reaction to particulate wear debris, is an important and common cause of bone loss after TKA. Less common, though sometimes dramatic, causes of bone loss are infection and osteonecrosis.