The Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery, Vol 64, Issue 5 740-744, Copyright © 1982 by Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery, Inc
UCI total knee replacement. A follow-up study
LR Hamilton
Using the UCI (University of California at Irvine) total knee prosthesis,
an arthroplasty was performed in ninety-seven patients (121 knees) from
1972 through 1977. I examined eighty of these patients (100 knees) at three
to eight years after the operation and it was necessary to either perform
or recommend further surgery in twenty-five of them (twenty-seven knees).
These results were designated as failures. The knees in valgus angulation
that failed typically did so within the first year because of medical
instability and patellar dislocation. The knees in varus angulation that
failed typically did so one to six years after operation because of
loosening of the tibial component. When failure became established, each
knee was found to have reverted to its preoperative angular deformity,
indicating that deforming factors were still operative. I suspect that
ligament imbalance may have contributed to many of these failures. The
surface area and stiffness of the 5.0 and 7.5-millimeter-thick tibial
components of the original UCI prosthesis were not sufficient to prevent
loosening and subsidence. Constraint between the tibial and femoral
components was not sufficient to prevent subluxation or dislocation if
soft-tissue release was needed for correction of deformity. Prompted by
this experience, total knee arthroplasty using the UCI device has been
discontinued at the Ochsner Medical Institutions.