Introduction and Objectives: There are knee prostheses that are specifically designed for the treatment of extreme cases of surgical revision of cases with large bone losses. These are hinged systems that provide greater stability and have a wide range of components to reconstruct bone defects Experience with this type of prosthesis is usually limited, due to the fact that it is used in complex and sporadic cases. Our aim is to review the results obtained with the implant of this prosthesis in our unit.

Materials and Methods: From June 2000 until March 2008 we implanted 10 salvage knee prostheses (5 TKR OSS, 5 TKR FINN). These procedures were carried out in 6 women and 4 men of 33 to 77 years of age. Indications for these procedures were many, with predominance of revision surgery of septic knee, bone tumors and failure of an infected osteosynthesis.

Results: We achieved pain relief in 7 patients: Mean morbidity > 45° in 7 cases. And 90% of the patients were satisfied.

Discussion and Conclusions: Large bone defects are difficult to reconstruct, especially when a joint is affected. Revision surgery is difficult and has poor results. Knee salvage prostheses are capable of providing a stable non-painful knee in severely incapacitated patients. We had few complications and we hope to have more cases and be able to carry out a longer follow-up of the ones we had. We are optimistic and we have named this prosthesis ‘the third knee prosthesis’.