Abstract

The total knee prosthesis is now a reliable and reproducible intervention with a very satisfactory success rate. However, some situations expose to specific technical difficulties, this is the case especially; Total prostheses on stiff or stiff knee. We report an observation of a 69-year-old patient who suffered a traffic accident at an early age in whom an arthrodesis was performed. The patient had a total hinged prosthesis in his right knee in one time operative. Satisfactory result at 10 months postoperative, with a very satisfactory mobility. But 18 months after the patient consults for septic flow. He benefited from ablation of the prosthesis and setting up a spacer and adapted antibiotherapy. Before the persistence of the flow and the non-drying it ended up with a thigh amputation. This allowed us to focus on the technical difficulties, and the many possible complications. All series in the literature demonstrate high morbidity and the fact that the results are usually inferior to those reported for first total knee replacements, and that a mobility of approximately 70° is generally obtained after eight to ten weeks. month postoperatively should be considered a very satisfactory result. But despite the 10% risk of amputation reported in the literature no series report this unfortunate result. Although these operations are cumbersome and the rehabilitation is long and difficult, the benefit for the patients is major, with many of them returning to an almost normal life.

Keywords: Total knee prosthesis; Stiff knee; Hinged prosthesis