Safety and outcome of simultaneous bilateral unicompartmental knee arthroplasty: A systematic review

Purpose Simultaneous bilateral unicompartmental knee arthroplasty (BUKA) is considered safe and effective. We performed a systematic review to assess the postoperative outcomes. Methods The US National Library of Medicine (PubMed/MEDLINE), Google Scholar, and the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews were queried for publications. Results Ten articles were included with 765 simultaneous BUKA. Overall complication rate was 7.0%, survivorship was 97.6% at mean 17 months follow-up. No differences were reported between simultaneous and staged BUKA. Conclusion Simultaneous BUKA is as safe as staged BUKA, it is associated with decreased length of stay and operative time, although it has an increased rate of blood transfusion.