SynthesisKnee surgery, sports traumatology, arthroscopy : official journal of the ESSKA2015
Does patellar denervation reduce post-operative anterior knee pain after total knee arthroplasty?
Synthesis in Knee surgery, sports traumatology, arthroscopy : official journal of the ESSKA, 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 27 papers, 6 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
27 citing papers in PubMed, 6 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 40 citations in OpenAlex.
- Does Patellar Denervation with Electrocautery Benefits for Total Knee Arthroplasty without Patellar Resurfacing: A Meta-analysis of Randomized Controlled Trails.Orthopaedic surgery · 2024Pooled it
- Different modalities of patellar management in primary total knee arthroplasty: a Bayesian network meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.Journal of orthopaedic surgery and research · 2024Pooled it
- Patellar Denervation with Electrocautery Reduces Anterior Knee Pain within 1 Year after Total Knee Arthroplasty: A Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials.Orthopaedic surgery · 2021Pooled it
- Effect of Patellar Denervation on Anterior Knee Pain and Knee Function in Total Knee Arthroplasty without Patellar Resurfacing: A Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials.Orthopaedic surgery · 2020Pooled it
- Is patellar denervation necessary in total knee arthroplasty without patellar resurfacing?Knee surgery, sports traumatology, arthroscopy : official journal of the ESSKA · 2016Pooled it
- Adductor canal block provides better performance after total knee arthroplasty compared with femoral nerve block: a systematic review and meta-analysis.International orthopaedics · 2016Pooled it
- The efficacy of patellar denervation on prognosis and kneeling capacity after unicompartmental knee arthroplasty: a randomized clinical trial.Journal of orthopaedic surgery and research · 2024Trial
- [Long-term effectiveness of different patellar treatments in primary total knee arthroplasty].Zhongguo xiu fu chong jian wai ke za zhi = Zhongguo xiufu chongjian waike zazhi = Chinese journal of reparative and reconstructive surgery · 2022Trial
- Patellar denervation does not reduce post-operative anterior knee pain after primary total knee arthroplasty with patellar resurfacing.Knee surgery, sports traumatology, arthroscopy : official journal of the ESSKA · 2021Trial
- Ultrasound-guided adductor canal block combined with lateral femoral cutaneous nerve block for post-operative analgesia following total knee arthroplasty: a prospective, double-blind, randomized controlled study.International orthopaedics · 2021Trial
- Does Circumferential Patellar Denervation Result in Decreased Knee Pain and Improved Patient-reported Outcomes in Patients Undergoing Nonresurfaced, Simultaneous Bilateral TKA?Clinical orthopaedics and related research · 2020Trial
- Routine circumferential patellar denervation during total knee arthroplasty did not consistently eliminate neural structures at the lateral patellar border: A prospective randomised controlled trial with histological outcomes.Journal of experimental orthopaedics · 2026Article
- Patellar Instability after Total Knee Arthroplasty: A Surgical Case Report.Journal of orthopaedic case reports · 2025Article
- Functional outcome comparison of single-radius and multi-radius femur in total knee arthroplasty.Acta orthopaedica et traumatologica turcica · 2025Article
- Patellar resurfacing in contemporary total knee arthroplasty: Frequency of complications in a matched cohort.Journal of orthopaedics · 2025Article
- Denervation of the Patella During Knee Arthroplasty: An Updated Systematic Global Review.Journal of clinical medicine · 2024Review
- Meta-analysis of factors influencing anterior knee pain after total knee arthroplasty.World journal of orthopedics · 2024Article
- Preoperative patellar bone marrow lesions with full thickness cartilage defects correlate with residual anterior knee pain in total knee arthroplasty without patellar resurfacing.Knee surgery, sports traumatology, arthroscopy : official journal of the ESSKA · 2023Article
- Patellar Resurfacing in Total Knee Arthroplasty, a Never-Ending Controversy; Case Report and Literature Review.Diagnostics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Article
- Short-term improvement of patellofemoral pain in medial unicompartmental knee arthroplasty with patellar denervation: a prospective comparative study.Musculoskeletal surgery · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
purposeThe effectiveness of patellar denervation in reducing anterior knee pain and improving patient satisfaction and quality of life after total knee arthroplasty (TKA) is still controversial. A meta-analysis was conducted to try to settle the controversy.
methodsThe electronic databases PubMed, Web of Science, Embase, and Cochrane Library were systematically searched. Of 374 papers identified, seven randomised controlled trials involving 898 patients (983 knees) were eligible for data extraction and meta-analysis.
resultsAnalysis showed that patellar denervation can significantly improve clinical outcomes for the first 12 months of follow-up after TKA, including anterior knee pain incidence (P = 0.008), visual analogue scale score (P < 0.001), patellar score (P < 0.001), Knee Society Score (P = 0.03), Knee Society Score function score (P = 0.03), and knee range of motion (P = 0.008). However, no statistical significance in outcomes was found between the patellar denervation group and no-denervation group for any of those parameters after 12 months of follow-up.
conclusionThe best currently available evidence suggests that patellar denervation can significantly reduce anterior knee pain incidence and improve early clinical outcomes after TKA. However, after a prolonged period of follow-up, this advantage seems to disappear. Even so, the use of patellar denervation in primary TKA is recommended because it is safe and produces good early clinical outcomes. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: Therapeutic study, Level II.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.