Review Article
Saverio Comitini; Domenico
Abstract
Major joint arthroplasty is undoubtedly one of the surgical success stories of modern times. The first attempt of treating patients affected by knee osteoarthritis with arthroplasty goes back to the midnineteenth century. In 1880 the German surgeon Themistocles Gluck implanted the first primitive hinge joints made of ivory. The first part of the twentieth century saw the return of interpositional arthroplasty with the use of autologous tissues or metallic surfaces. In the early 1960s, John Charnley’s cemented metal-on-polyethylene total hip arthroplasty inspired the development of the modern total knee replacement. He worked on the design of an implant that resurfaced the distal femur and proximal tibia without any direct mechanical link between the components began at the end of the sixties. Technological developments in the field of knee replacement continue to increase the range of solutions for the recovery of joint mobility of painful knee arthritis.