This retrospective observational study was designed to investigate the association between radiographic Ahlbäck osteoarthritis (OA) grade and postoperative joint perception in a cohort of patients undergoing medial robotic arm-assisted unicompartmental knee arthroplasty (RA-UKA), using the Forgotten Joint Status and Patient Acceptable Symptom State (PASS) as outcomes.
Between January 2014 and May 2019, 660 patients (719 knees) underwent medial RA-UKA at 2 centers. Ahlbäck OA grade was measured on preoperative knee radiographs. Postoperatively, patients were administered the Forgotten Joint Score-12 (FJS-12) and 5-level Likert scale to assess patients' satisfaction. Correlations were described among FJS-12, satisfaction, and Ahlbäck OA grade by means of logistic regression models.
A total of 547 patients (602 knees) were assessed at a mean follow-up of 3.5 years (standard deviation 1.4). A total of 293 cases were graded as Ahlbäck 1 (Group A) and 309 knees were graded as Ahlbäck>1 (Group B). Statistically significant difference was detected in mean FJS-12 (P < .001), but not in the postoperative satisfaction level (P = .06) between the 2 groups. Patients in Group B had a significantly higher probability of attaining a "forgotten knee" after the operation, compared to Group A (P < .05). Cases in Group A had a significantly lower probability of achieving the PASS (P < .01).
Patients with higher grades of OA (Ahlbäck>1) were more likely to attain a "forgotten knee," while patients with less severe OA (Ahlbäck 1) were less likely to achieve the PASS after RA-UKA. Although patients with less severe OA reported fairly good outcome, cases in which the results will be poorer are currently difficult to predict.