CORR Insights^®: Rotating-platform TKA No Different from Fixed-bearing TKA Regarding Survivorship or Performance: A Meta-analysis

Excerpt

“Which implant should I choose for my patients?” This question continues to be relevant and valid for all arthroplasty surgeons, particularly in a marketplace populated with numerous knee prostheses, each claiming unique advantages, but with some delivering less-than-promised performance. Among the many choices surgeons make among kinds of TKA implants, mobile versus fixed bearings features prominently. Mobile bearings have two theoretically appealing advantages: Increased conformity leading to potentially improved longevity due to reduced wear, and potentially better kinematics and perhaps function owing to self-adjustment in rotational alignment. While there is an abundance of clinical series reporting excellent results in terms of pain, function, or durability (many of which were reported by prosthesis designers or high-volume surgeons) [4, 5], there are many randomized controlled trials [1, 3, 10, 13] and others presenting joint registry data [11] that have failed to prove the superiority of mobile bearings compared to fixed bearings. This unproven nature of the superiority of mobile bearings has been echoed by multiple meta-analyses [2, 7, 12, 14‐17]. …