[The importance of the restoration of the joint line in revision total knee arthroplasty. Clinical indexes, quality of life and survival].

INTRODUCTION: The reproduction of the anatomical joint line could be a good index to obtain good results in knee prosthesis surgery, although in revision surgery has not been enough studied. A search for a simple and reproducible method is needed to review these results.

MATERIAL AND METHODS: A retrospective study was conducted between January 2000 and December 2013. A total of 97 total revision knee arthroplasties were implanted. Finally, the study group consisted of 67 patients. To perform our study, the joint line was evaluated according to the method described by Hofmann A. The evaluation of the clinical results included the following main variables: Flexion, extension, range of motion, WOMAC, SF-36, KSS (Knee Society Score) and functional KSS. The survival of the arthroplasties was studied. (p = 0.05).

RESULTS: The variables of flexion, extension and range of postoperative movement are statistically correlated with this measure. The KSS was statistically related in its joint aspect with the restoration of the joint line. For the other scales, SF-36 and WOMAC, the figures were higher but did not correlate with the accepted p.

CONCLUSION: In view of these results, we can say that the restoration of the anatomical joint line improves the clinical results of revision total knee arthroplasty.