Incidence of lateral release in total knee arthroplasty in standard and mini-incision approaches

Minimally invasive total knee arthroplasty is a relatively new technique. There are limited clinical data on outcomes in patients having this procedure. We report the incidence of lateral release of the patella during total knee arthroplasty performed by one surgeon in 106 consecutive knees. The rate of release is compared between knees that received a mini incision with a limited medial parapatellar arthrotomy and those that received a standard approach. Our data suggest there is no correlation between size of incision and incidence of lateral release of the patella.