Patient satisfaction after total knee replacement—still a challenge
Jan A.N. Verhaar
Abstract
During a validation process of the Swedish \nKnee Arthroplasty Register (SKAR), living registered patients were sent a questionnaire to ask if they had been reoperated on. This gave an opportunity to pose a simple \nfour-point question with respect to patient satisfaction \nwhich 95% of patients answered. We analyzed the answers of patients operated on between 1981 and 1995 and \nfound that only 8% of the patients were dissatisfied regarding their knee arthroplasty 2–17 years postoperatively. The satisfaction rate was constant, regardless of when \nthe operation had been performed during the 15-year period. The proportion of satisfied patients was affected by \nthe preoperative diagnosis, patients operated on for a \nlong-standing disease more often being satisfied than \nthose with a short disease-duration. There was no difference in proportions of satisfied patients, whether they had \nprimarily been operated on with a total knee arthroplasty \n(TKA) or a medial unicompartmental arthroplasty \n(UKA). For TKAs performed with primary patellar resurfacing, there was a higher ratio of satisfied patients \nthan for TKAs not resurfaced, but this increased ratio diminished with time passed since the primary operation. \nUnrevised knees had a higher proportion of satisfied patients than knees that had been subject to revision, and \namong patients revised for medial UKA, the proportion \nof satisfied patients was higher than among patients revised for TKA. \nWe conclude that satisfaction after knee arthroplasty \nis stable and long-lasting in unrevised cases and that \neven after revision most patients are satisfied.