As the American Joint Replacement Registry (AJRR) has grown to become the largest
global arthroplasty registry by case volume, its ability to answer clinical questions
and provide insight into surgical trends and outcomes has become more compelling.
Recently, the AJRR surpassed 4 million captured hip and knee arthroplasty procedures,
and by linking AJRR cases to Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) claims
data, they have been able to fill in the gaps to report comorbidities, survivorship,
and patient outcomes more completely in patients ≥65 years.
The focus of this special section was to highlight contemporary research questions
surrounding knee arthroplasty that utilized the power and scale of the AJRR. Two articles
tackled the hotbed issue of patella management in primary total knee arthroplasty
(TKA). DeMik et al explored the association of patella resurfacing and subsequent
extensor mechanism injury, and Garcia Vélez et al investigated whether leaving the
patella unresurfaced correlated to an increase in revision TKA.
Additional clinical considerations regarding TKA center around tibial fixation to
avoid aseptic loosening. Hohmann et al examined the registry to assess if the addition
of a tibial stem extender at the time of index TKA decreased the risk of aseptic loosening,
while Kagan et al explored revision rates in subjects across the registry who met
selective criteria for cementless TKA.
I appreciate the Journal of Knee Surgery for inviting us to share the breadth and potential of the AJRR as a research tool.
We hope this issue piques your curiosity and encourage you to reach out to your practice
or hospital to make sure they are submitting data to the AJRR—for the betterment of
all patients and surgeons. For more information, please visit https://www.aaos.org/registries/learn-about-participation/.
