Revision total knee arthroplasty for failure of primary treatment of periprosthetic knee fractures.

Periprosthetic knee fractures and their complications are expected to increase as the numbers of knee arthroplasties continue to rise. We report our experience with revision knee arthroplasty for failure of primary fracture treatment. Five periprosthetic knee non-unions and 1 mal-union in 6 patients, with ages ranging from 65 to 83years (average 74.6years) were treated with revision total knee arthroplasty, and were followed up for 3 to 10years (average 4.5years). Union occurred in 8 to 18weeks (average 12.5weeks). All patients were ambulatory at the latest follow-up, with a range of motion averaging 84.2° (P = 0.03), and an Oxford Knee Score averaging 35 (P = 0.03). We conclude that union complications of periprosthetic knee fractures can be satisfactorily addressed with revision arthroplasty.