Retained Cement After Unicondylar Knee Arthroplasty

The recent increase in the popularity of minimally invasive surgery has dramatically altered the technique that most surgeons use to perform unicondylar knee arthroplasty. This change in technique brings new difficulties to both the surgeon and the patient, such as the potential for new complications related to the limited surgical exposure and the need for surgeons to learn the new operative procedures. In this report, we describe the cases of four patients who required arthroscopic removal of a loose cement fragment after a minimally invasive unicondylar knee arthroplasty. We believe that this complication was related to the decreased visualization in the posterior compartment of the knee associated with the use of small incisions and cementing of the all-polyethylene tibial component. Our patients were informed that data concerning the cases would be submitted for publication.