Survival of lateral unicompartmental knee arthroplasty at short‐, mid‐, and long‐term follow‐up: a systematic review and meta‐analysis

Abstract

Background: The infrequency of lateral unicompartmental knee arthroplasty (UKA) has led to a lack of understanding of its survival. This study aimed to systematically evaluate the survivorship results of lateral UKA at different follow-ups based on available literature. Methods: Five databases were searched for eligible studies. Pooled survivorships with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) at 3, 5, 10, 15, and 20 years after lateral UKA were estimated using a random-effect model. Subgroup and sensitivity analyses were performed. Results: A total of 26 studies involving 5470 lateral UKAs were included. Survivorships of lateral UKA at 3-, 5-, 10-, 15-, and 20-year follow-ups were 96% (95% CI: 95-98%, I 2 : 77.5%), 94% (95% CI: 93-96%, I 2 : 70.8%), 88% (95% CI: 84-91%, I 2 : 70.8%), 85% (95% CI: 79-91%, I 2 : 70.8%), and 78% (95% CI: 71-85%, I 2 : 54.2%), respectively. Subgroup analyses found that bearing type, the number of surgeons, and year of publication might be associated with implant survival outcomes. Conclusion: Lateral UKA is an effective procedure with excellent survivorships at short-, mid-, and long-term follow-ups. Results suggest a single-surgeon lateral UKA using fixedbearing. Additional well-designed studies are needed to elucidate the current findings.