Trabecular metal patella--is it really doomed to fail in the totally patellar-deficient knee? A case report of patellar reconstruction with a novel technique.

Abstract

Reconstruction of the patella poses real problems for the revision TKR surgeon, particularly when the patella is absent, fractured or profoundly deficient. The trabecular metal patella was introduced in an attempt to address these issues. However the largest series of such cases published to date cast serious doubts on the validity of using Trabecular Metal (TM) in cases where there is no residual patellar bone stock at all. We present a case where the TM Patellar implant has survived satisfactorily for 8 years post reconstruction in a knee with no residual patella bone, resulting in greatly improved symptoms and function. We believe that this success might be related to specific technical details in the reconstruction and we present the technique.