The purpose of this study was to evaluate the clinical results of total knee arthroplasty in elderly patients. We treated 31 patients older than 80 years (6 men and 25 women) between January 2008 and December 2009. The mean follow-up period was 13 months. We investigated operation time, blood loss, postoperative complications, range of motion, the Japanese Orthopaedic Association (JOA) score and walking ability.
The most frequent postoperative complication was delirium (4 cases). None of the postoperative complications were severe. The average knee extension was improved from
-11.1° to -3°, and the average JOA score was improved from 47.8 to 74.8. Finally, all of the patients were able to walk with or without assistive devices.
This group comprising patients older than 80 years was compared with a group aged 70-79 years (43 patients) treated during the same period. At the final investigation, the average JOA score in the latter group was higher than the score in the former group.
We conclude that TKA is a useful procedure for relieving pain and improving function in not only younger generation, but elderly patients.
