Review Article: The Rationale for Posterior Cruciate Substituting Total Knee Arthroplasty

The debate over the appropriate role for the posterior cruciate ligament (PCL) in total knee design has continued for more than three decades. Excellent long term results have been obtained with cemented condylar total knee components of the cruciate sacrificing, cruciate substituting and cruciate retaining designs. However, important new information in the area of biomechanics, 5,14,20, histology,17 gait analysis, 39 kinematics, 7,36 and results from clinical trial, 6,8,12 have further strengthened our long term held belief that a posterior stabilized design is the implant of choice for most primary and revision total knee arthroplasties.