Extract
To The Editor:We read with interest "Patellar Resurfacing in Total Knee
Arthroplasty. A Prospective, Randomized Study" (2003;85:212-7), by
Waters and Bentley, which is impressive in both size and length of follow-up.
However, we are concerned that, in a prospective, randomized trial in which
anterior knee pain was assessed as the main outcome measure following knee
arthroplasty, no preoperative record of anterior knee pain was made. In fact,
the only preoperative assessment was the score obtained with use of the Knee
Society rating system. Although this scoring system takes into account
stair-climbing ability, it does not directly consider anterior knee pain. A
large portion of the Results section is devoted to the prevalence of
postoperative anterior knee pain with no mention of how this might relate to
the preoperative symptoms.