Surgical Excision of the Fat Pad

Not Applicable

Completed

• Conditions: Osteo Arthritis Knee
• Interventions: Procedure: removal of fat pad; Procedure: non removal of fat pad

• Registration Number: NCT04503512
• Lead Sponsor: Liverpool University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

Brief Summary

Introduction:

The infrapatellar fat pad (Hoffa's fat pad) is a structure which is located intra-articularly. Its function is not well known. During knee replacement surgery, some surgeons would prefer removing the whole of the fat pad as this can improve exposure of the knee joint, as it can affect exposure of the knee joint which will in turn make the procedure slightly more efficient. Other surgeons would rather resect the minimum amount and preserve the bulk of the structure as anecdotally this is thought to decrease the level of post operative pain. This surgical step fat pad resection is a very small part of the whole total knee replacement procedure.

A previous retrospective review of patients whose fat pad had been removed showed that they were nearly twice as likely to experience postoperative pain (P = 0.0005), while another study showed that they are at a slight risk of patellar tendon shortening.

A randomised controlled trial of 68 patients did not show any difference in patella tendon length at six months and no difference in pain relief in both groups 3. However this study did not evaluate the functional outcome in both groups.

To our knowledge, there are no RCT looking at the effect of the excision or preservation of the fat pad in TKR and the functional outcomes post operatively.

Study Hypothesis:

Excision of Hoffa's fat pad during total knee replacement surgery does not affect functional outcome, pain level after surgery or the patella tendon length at either one or two years.

Detailed Description

RCT of excision or preservation of fat pad in TKR and the functional outcomes post operatively

Study Timeline

• Study Start: 2012-10-23
• Study First Submitted: 2019-08-23
• Study First Submitted QC: 2020-08-04
• Study First Posted: 2020-08-07
• Primary Completion: 2022-09-01
• Study Completion: 2022-09-01
• Status Verified: 2023-06
• Last Update Submitted: 2024-02-14
• Last Update Posted: 2024-02-15

Recruitment & Eligibility

• Status: COMPLETED
• Sex: All
• Target Recruitment: 154

Inclusion Criteria

• 1- Primary total knee replacement for knee osteoarthritis

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Exclusion Criteria

1. Revision Surgery.
2. Primary Knee Replacement for pathologies other than Osteoarthritis.
3. Previous knee fractures around the knee.
4. Previous confirmed intra-articular infections.
5. Non English speaking/reading patients.

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Study & Design

• Study Type: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Design: PARALLEL

Arm && Interventions

Group	Intervention	Description
Removal of fat pad	removal of fat pad	Removal of fat pad
Non removal of fat pad	non removal of fat pad	Non removal of fat pad

Primary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Koos Knee Score	3 months post op,	The Knee Injury and Osteoarthritis Outcome Score (KOOS) is a knee-specific instrument, developed to assess the patients' opinion about their knee and associated problems. The KOOS evaluates both short-term and long-term consequences of knee injury.

Trial Locations

Locations (1)

Broadgreen Hospital; 🇬🇧 Liverpool, United Kingdom