Patellar denervation with electrocautery in total knee arthroplasty without patellar resurfacing: a meta-analysis

Six studies (5 randomized controlled trials and 1 comparative retrospective study) were included in this meta-analysis to evaluate total knee arthroplasty with and without circumpatellar electrocautery. The primary purpose of this analysis was to determine the effect of patellar denervation with electrocautery on anterior knee pain. The rate of anterior knee pain was lower after circumpatellar electrocautery, although the difference did not reach statistical significance (20.0% vs. 33.3%). While circumpatellar electrocautery was also observed to improve KSS knee and patellar scores to a statistically significant degree, the mean differences fell below the minimum clinically important difference (MCID).