Rapid tibial polyethylene failure in porous-coated anatomic total knees as a cause of clinical failure.

Among 52 patients with porous-coated anatomic total knee arthroplasties, three (6%) underwent revision surgery because of failure of the tibial polyethylene at two years and three months, four years and three months, and four years and nine months after surgery. Thinning of the tibial polyethylene may have contributed to the failure in one patient. Heat pressing fabrication and the articular geometry possibly played a role in the development of failure in all three patients. Surgical latitude of the prosthetic design was considered to be too narrow to be applied to knee joints with severe deformity, for which knee prostheses with more intrinsic stability might be appropriate.