Who Qualifies for Partial Knee Replacement Surgery?
Single-compartment arthritis, intact ligaments, correctable deformity and reasonable bone quality.
Candidacy is assessed against four criteria. First, arthritis must be confined to one compartment — usually the medial side. Second, the cruciate ligaments (especially the ACL) must be functional, since UKA relies on the patient's own ligaments to balance the knee.
Third, any deformity (typically a bow-legged or knock-knee appearance) must be correctable — meaning the knee can be brought back to neutral alignment on examination. Fourth, the bone must be of reasonable quality on X-ray and clinical examination.
Age, weight and activity level affect outcomes but rarely rule out UKA outright. The KOGS grading system used in our practice scores all four criteria objectively so the decision is data-driven and reproducible, not based on surgeon preference.
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