At the 16th annual meeting of the American Association of Hip and Knee Surgeons in Dallas, Texas, a group of researchers from Taiwan presented a comparative study looking at the outcome of a medial quad-sparing type of approach to total knee arthroplasty with a minimal incision more standard total knee arthroplasty. They found that the medial approach led to a higher incidence of errors, malalignment, and technical issues without any improvement in postoperative pain, function, or patient satisfaction. They concluded that the medial approach resulted in more problems without patient benefit. There seems to be a trend away from some of the more novel approaches to total hip and knee replacement and surgeons are now concentrating on using smaller incisions, better pain relief, and improved rehabilitation protocols to improve the function of their patients and accelerate the recovery from these surgeries without sacrificing the long-term success of joint replacement surgery.
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