SynthesisKnee surgery, sports traumatology, arthroscopy : official journal of the ESSKA2021
Better outcomes after minimally invasive surgeries compared to the standard invasive medial parapatellar approach for total knee arthroplasty: a meta-analysis.
Synthesis in Knee surgery, sports traumatology, arthroscopy : official journal of the ESSKA, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 17 papers, 5 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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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
17 citing papers in PubMed, 5 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 28 citations in OpenAlex.
- Comparison of conventional and minimally invasive approaches of primary total knee arthroplasty: a network meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.BMC musculoskeletal disorders · 2026Pooled it
- Continuous femoral nerve block as pain management following total knee arthroplasty: a systematic review.Archives of orthopaedic and trauma surgery · 2025Pooled it
- Functional alignment in robotic-assisted total knee arthroplasty: a systematic review.Archives of orthopaedic and trauma surgery · 2024Pooled it
- Minimally invasive medial femoral approach to total knee arthroplasty improves short-term outcomes compared to the standard medial parapatellar approach: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Journal of orthopaedic surgery and research · 2023Pooled it
- No difference between mobile and fixed bearing in primary total knee arthroplasty: a meta-analysis.Knee surgery, sports traumatology, arthroscopy : official journal of the ESSKA · 2022Pooled it
- Improved accuracy of functional alignment restoration with robotic-assisted total knee arthroplasty : A quasi-randomized controlled trial.Orthopadie (Heidelberg, Germany) · 2026Trial
- Minimally Invasive (Epivastus) Approach for Total Knee Arthroplasty.Sovremennye tekhnologii v meditsine · 2023Trial
- [Expert consensus on clinical pathway for high-conformity total knee arthroplasty through a minimally invasive surgical approach].Zhongguo xiu fu chong jian wai ke za zhi = Zhongguo xiufu chongjian waike zazhi = Chinese journal of reparative and reconstructive surgery · 2026Article
- Kinesiotaping following primary total knee arthroplasty : Alevel I evidence-based meta-analysis.Orthopadie (Heidelberg, Germany) · 2026Review
- Advancements in Total Knee Arthroplasty over the Last Two Decades.Journal of clinical medicine · 2025Review
- Management of Postoperative Pain Following Primary Total Knee Arthroplasty: A Level I Evidence-Based Bayesian Network Meta-Analysis.Pharmaceuticals (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Review
- Management of Venous Thromboembolism After Hip and Knee Arthroplasty.Journal of orthopaedics and sports medicine · 2025Article
- Comparable long-term functional outcomes of subvastus and medial parapatellar approach in total knee arthroplasty: A 10-year follow-up study.Journal of experimental orthopaedics · 2024Article
- No difference in Oxford Knee Score between medial and lateral unicompartmental knee arthroplasty after two years of follow-up: a clinical trial.Journal of experimental orthopaedics · 2023Article
- Minimally invasive small incision surgical technique for unicompartmental knee arthroplasty.International orthopaedics · 2023Article
- Arthroscopic-assisted robotic bi-unicompartmental knee arthroplasty: a pilot cadaveric study.Archives of orthopaedic and trauma surgery · 2023Article
- Avulsion Fracture of Bicruciate Ligament and Patellar Tendon in Bicruciate-Retaining Total Knee Arthroplasty.Arthroplasty today · 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
5 authors at 2 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
purposeMinimally invasive surgery (MIS) for total knee arthroplasty (TKA) is often marketed as being able to speed up healing times over standard invasive surgery (SIS) through the medial parapatellar approach. The advantages of these minimally invasive approaches, however, are not yet definitively established. A meta-analysis of studies comparing peri-operative and post-operative differences and long-term complications of MIS versus SIS for TKA was conducted.
methodsThis meta-analysis was conducted following the PRISMA guidelines. The Pubmed, Google Scholar, Scopus, and Embase databases were accessed in September 2020. All clinical trials comparing minimally-invasive versus standard approaches for TKA were considered. Only studies reporting quantitative data under the outcomes of interest were included. Methodological quality assessment was performed using the PEDro appraisal score.
resultsThis meta-analysis covers a total of 38 studies (3296 procedures), with a mean 21.3 ± 24.3 months of follow-up. The MIS group had shorter hospitalization times, lower values of total estimated blood loss, quicker times of straight-leg raise, greater values for range of motion, higher scores on the Knee Society Clinical Rating System (KSS) and its related Function Subscale (KSFS). Pain scores, anterior knee pain and revision rate were similar between MIS and SIS. SIS allowed a quicker surgical duration.
conclusionThe present meta-analysis encourages the use of minimally invasive techniques for total knee arthroplasty. However, MIS TKA is technically demanding and requires a long learning curve. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: III, meta-analysis of clinical trials.
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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.