Unicompartmental Knee Arthroplasty for Severe Osteoarthritis and Pseudarthrosis in a Patient with Neurofibromatosis

Abstract

We describe the case of a 76-year-old Asian female patient who presented with severe pain and a valgus deformity of the right knee. Her past medical history included neurofibromatosis, which resulted in a severe anterior slope of the right knee, limb shortening, and congenital pseudarthrosis. She was diagnosed with severe anterolateral osteoarthritis and eburnation of the right knee that was treated surgically with a lateral unicompartmental knee arthroplasty (UKA). Bone and cartilage fragments were removed from the joint space and a UKA implant (Zimmer^®) with dimensions of 29 mm × 50 mm was inserted. Perioperative imaging revealed that the procedure resulted in the correction of the valgus deformity. Pain was reduced and the patient was able to walk for 10 meters with support during the immediate postoperative period. One week post-surgery, the patient sustained an oblique tibial fracture that extended from the medial edge of the implant to the medial slope of the proximal tibia. This complication may have been attributed to large implant size or sagittal overcutting. The fracture was treated surgically with a rotated anterolateral locking plate (A.L.P.S^®) inserted into the distal tibia. The patient was capable of ambulation at full weight load at two months after the second procedure. It is critical to recognize that there are no standard protocols that can be used to guide the treatment of neurofibromatosis-induced osteoarthritis. The specific preoperative condition of the individual patient plays a large role in determining the appropriate treatment option. In this case, the availability of custom-fitted UKA implants might have improved outlook, we understand that these devices are costly and may not be available at all hospitals. However, we strongly believe that the “gold standard” in these cases is patient-specific treatment that addresses the issues of the highest concern using the resources that are available at that time.

Graphical abstract

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Keywords:

• skeletal deformities
• limb shortening
• stress fracture
• knee implants

Abbreviations

NF, neurofibromatosis; OA, osteoarthritis; ACL, anterior cruciate ligament; PCL, posterior cruciate ligament; UKA, unicompartmental knee arthroplasty; TKA, total knee arthroplasty; BKA, bicompartmental knee arthroplasty; MRI, magnetic resonance imaging; CT, computed tomography; KOOS, Knee injury and Osteoarthritis Outcome Score.

Informed Consent

Informed consent was obtained from the patient for publication.

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank Medical Journal Editors (MJE) for assistance in the editing of our manuscript.

Disclosure

The authors declare no potential conflicts of interest.

Additional information

Funding

This study was approved by the review board at Edogawa Hospital. The authors received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.