We followed a series of ten patients (ten knees) who had a
unicompartmental and twenty patients (twenty-two knees) who had a
bicompartmental arthroplasty of the knee, in which a finned metal
tibial-plateau implant had been used, for two to fourteen years (average,
five years) postoperatively. According to the modified criteria of
MacIntosh and Hunter, thirty knees (94 per cent) had a good result and two
(6 per cent), a fair result. There were two complications: one
intraoperative and one postoperative fracture of the tibial plateau. One
patient with rheumatoid arthritis required a revision to a total knee
arthroplasty at six months because of rapid progression of disease in the
contralateral, untreated compartment. Our results suggest that with the
proper indications this arthroplasty has a place in reconstructive surgery
of the arthritic knee joint.