Abstract

BACKGROUND: Knee osteoarthritis caused by endemic skeletal fluorosis is a complex and chronic systemic disease,which can cause the damage of surrounding bone and sclerotin of knee joint.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the effect of total knee arthroplasty (TKA) in the treatment of knee osteoarthritis caused by endemic skeletal fluorosis.

METHODS: Nine patients suffered from knee osteoarthritis caused by skeletal fluorosis that diagnosed by local epidemiology,dental fluorosis,clinical and imaging from March 2010 to October 2011 and all the patients were treated with bilateral TKA. The clinical efficacy was evaluated according to the knee scoring system of United States Hospital for Special Surgery before arthroplasty and final follow-up after arthroplasty.

RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: Score results showed that 5 knees were excellent, 3 knees were good and 1 knee was fair after knee arthroplasty. All patients have been improved in pain, function and range of motion. TKA is an effective method for the treatment of knee osteoarthritis caused by skeletal fluorosis.

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