Abstract
Several attempts have been made to treat medial compartment OA of the knee with mobile spacers. All have met with dismal failure.
This presentation explores the history of attempts to treat OA in the younger knee with mobile spacers and explains why they were all doomed to fail.
Sources of information for this presentation include the published peer reviewed literature, publically available documents, and an insiders view of some of the failed attempts to solve the problem of medial compartment OA with mobile spacers.
All attempts to treat medial compartment OA of the knee with mobile spacers have failed. The unispacer has been a failure with a 60% revision rate at three years. The ABS intercushion had a 100% revision rate at one year and in many cases caused permanent damage to the host knees. The Salucartilage spacer was implanted in one patient only and failed within 48 hours.
Mobile spacers do not work, are never likely to work, and are not indicated for the treatment of medial compartment osteoarthritis of the knee.
