Porous Tantalum Metaphyseal Cones for Severe Femoral and Tibial Bone Defects in Revision Total Knee Arthroplasty are Reliable for Fixation at Mean 5 Year Follow-Up

Background Porous tantalum metaphyseal cones may facilitate reconstructions of severe bone defects during revision total knee arthroplasty (TKA), but there remains a paucity of data on their outcomes at mean five years follow-up. This study reports the component survivorship, patient satisfaction, functional outcomes, radiographic osseointegration, and complications of revision TKA with porous tantalum metaphyseal cones at mid-term (mean 5 year) follow-up. Methods This study included 152 patients who had a mean age of 66 years (range, 33.9 – 86.1 years) undergoing revision TKA with porous tantalum metaphyseal cones. Indications for surgery included aseptic loosening (n = 87, 57.3%); second-stage reimplantation for infection (n = 42, 27.6%); osteolysis with well-fixed components (n = 20, 13.2%); and periprosthetic fracture (n = 3, 2.0%). Component survivorship, clinical outcomes, radiographic outcomes, and any complications were recorded. The mean follow-up time was 5.6 years (range, 2.2 to 13.7). Results Survivorship was 100% when the end point was revision of the metaphyseal cone (no cones were revised) and 83.8% (95% CI [confidence interval]: 77.9 to 90.2%) when the end point was reoperation for any reason at five-year follow-up. Reoperations were performed for infection (n = 10), instability (n = 4), periprosthetic fracture (n = 2), and quadriceps rupture/dehiscence (n = 3). The mean patient satisfaction score was 78.8 ± 11.3 and the mean Forgotten Joint Score was 62.2 ± 16.7 at the final follow-up. The preoperative median University of California at Los Angeles score improved from 2 (IQR [interquartile range] 2 to 3) to 6 points (IQR 5 to 6) (P < 0.001), and the preoperative Oxford knee score improved from 15.2 ± 3.8 to 39.4 ± 5.1 points (P < 0.001) at the final follow-up. All metaphyseal cones showed radiographic evidence of osteointegration without any subsidence or loosening. Conclusion Porous tantalum metaphyseal cones enabled robust reconstructions of severe femoral and tibial bone defects during revision TKA. These reconstructions were associated with excellent survivorship, improvements in functional outcomes, and reproducible radiographic osseointegration at mean 5-year follow-up. The most common reasons for reoperation were infection and instability.