No difference in clinical outcomes when retaining or sacrificing the posterior cruciate ligament in medial congruent total knee replacement. A retrospective study

The aim of this study is to evaluate the effect of retaining or sacrificing the posterior cruciate ligament (PCL) in patients who undergo primary total knee replacement (TKR) with the medial congruent (MC) implant.

This retrospective study looks at patients who underwent TKR with the MC implant. Comparison was made between the group with the PCL sacrificed (MC-PCLS) and the group with the PCL retained (MC-PCLR). Range of motion (ROM), Oxford knee score (OKS), Knee society knee score (KS-KS) and Knee society function score (KS-FS) were recorded.

The study identified 76 patients. 50 in the MC-PCLS group and 26 in the MC-PCLR group. Both groups had similar patient demographics. Three months postoperatively, OKS and KS-KS had significant improvement. However, there was significant improvement in KS-FS score in the MC-PCLS group but not the MC-PCLR group (MC-PCLR: 33 ± 17, p = 0.07; MC-PCLS: 19 ± 24, p = 0.01). Twelve months postoperatively, the OKS continued to improve significantly for both groups, while the KS-FS and KS-KS scores appeared to stagnate. The ROM continued to improve significantly for the MC-PCLR group but not the MC-PCLS group (MC-PCLR: 7 ± 9, p = 0.03; MC-PCLS: 4 ± 9, p = 0.30). Both groups were similar in ROM, OKS and KSS scores at both the 3 and 12 month post-operative period.

There is no difference in post-operative outcomes with the PCL retained or sacrificed. As such, surgeons can consider routinely sacrificing the PCL for easier balancing of the knee and shorter surgical time.