Joint Registries

I found the below information posted on a bulletin board.  I learned in the seminars I went to that Sweden and Australia require a registry of every knee operation done by every doctor including the brand and type of device that was implanted and the results, including revisions.  This post includes the links to the two registries.  While I have looked through these, this is the kind of research that takes a lot of time, and since I have already chosen my doctor, and by virtue of that choice, his preferences, or contractual agreements or whatever arrangement exists between physician and implant manufacturer, my new knee is already determined.  So, I have not sorted through this.  But, I am a firm believer that this country should have a registry as well.  What better way to track the success or lack thereof, of these various devices and implants, not to mention the ability of the physicians?

This is a quote:


"I posted this on the total knee board, but as the registries also include unicompartmental results, I thought I would duplicate it in here. Some of the prosthesis in these countries are not sold here, and vice versa.
Following a previous post, a number of people have asked me to post the links to the Swedish and Australian Joint Registries. Hopefully the mods will make this a sticky. 
In Sweden and Australia, it is a legal requirement that every operation and knee is recorded. The UK also has a registry, but suppying information is voluntary (20% of cases go unreported, you can make your own mind up why some might not be reported)

Every company likes to tout figures on their success, normally studies by surgeons who are friendly to them, however, the registries include every single surgeon using the device, good, bad, or indifferent. They include tens of thousands of operations so will help nullify unusual events.
Its incredible to see that some knees that are commonly used in the UK have more than double the failure rate of others, must cost thousands in recovery costs.
Anyway the reports are below, 

The Swedish Joint Registry 
  http://www.knee.nko.se/english/online/uploadedFiles/113_SVK2009ENGL1.0.pdf
Gives results to 10 years, total knees are page 30-33 (or 34- 37 in acrobat). There are also some easy to understand graphs
Uni knees are page 34 (38 in acrobat)

Australian Joint registry
http://www.dmac.adelaide.edu.au/aoanjrr/documents/aoanjrrreport_2009.pdf
Total Knee results to 8 years are on page 145 (161 in acrobat)
They have a list of knees to avoid on page151 (167)
Uni Knees are on page 123 (139 in acrobat)"


Australian Orthopedic Registry

The Swedish Knee Arthroplasty Register