The influence of femoral component design in the elimination of patellar clunk in posterior-stabilized total knee arthroplasty

Patellar clunk occurs after posterior-stabilized total knee arthroplasty and is believed to be a design-related complication. This study was undertaken to define the incidence of patellar clunk with an optimized third-generation, posterior-stabilized prosthesis. One hundred ninety three patients with 238 knees were evaluated at a minimum of 2 years after primary total knee arthroplasty with a cemented, NexGen Legacy Posterior-Stabilized prosthesis (Zimmer, Warsaw, Ind). The mean follow-up was 48 months (range, 24-72 months). No patient manifested symptoms of patellar clunk or underwent surgery for any patello-femoral problem. These results support prior evidence that femoral component design is the primary cause of patellar clunk and that modifications incorporated into this third-generation, posterior-stabilized prosthesis has eliminated the problem.