Early evaluation of quality of life and clinical parameters after total knee arthroplasty.

BACKGROUND Gonarthrosis is the most frequent indication to perform arthroplasty of the knee joint. The purpose of the study was to examine the effect of selected factors on quality of life evaluation in patients after a knee arthroplasty for gonarthrosis. MATERIAL AND METHODS Forty patients aged 40 to 85 years (mean age 71.2 years) who underwent knee arthroplasty were examined. The Knee Injury and Osteoarthritis Outcome Score (KOOS) and Short Form-36 (SF-36) questionnaires were used to assess the quality of life of the patients. The questionnaires were completed by patients twice: 1-3 days before the operation and 6 weeks post-surgery. Age, gender, BMI, preoperative knee joint range of motion and limb axis, the presence of other implants, and the presence of a knee contracture before surgery were analysed. RESULTS The analysis demonstrated that sex, age, presence of other implants, axis and a preoperative knee contracture did not significantly influence questionnaire scores. As regards the range of knee flexion, outcomes after the arthroplasty were significantly better in patients with pre-operative ranges below 90 masculine than in patients with pre-operative ranges above 90 masculine. BMI had a significant influence on questionnaire scores. CONCLUSIONS The BMI value and range of knee flexion before the arthroplasty significantly influenced the quality of life after knee arthroplasty, whereas gender, age, the presence of an additional endoprosthesis or pre-operative joint deformity did not.