Tuberculous Arthritis of the Knee Treated with Two-Stage Total Knee Arthroplasty

It has been estimated that 2 billion people worldwide currently have tuberculosis in its latent form and that the active form of the disease will develop in 8 million people annually1. Tuberculous arthritis of the knee is one of the most common musculoskeletal manifestations2-6. While chemotherapy remains the cornerstone of treatment7, surgery of the knee may also be indicated and has been reported to include débridement and synovectomy8-10, arthrodesis11-14, amputation15-18, resection arthroplasty19-23, and prosthetic joint replacement24. Recently, there have been several reports of successful management of tuberculous arthritis of the knee with primary total knee arthroplasty25-31.