title: The role of the Short Form 36 Health Survey in autologous chondrocyte implantation.
abstract: The purpose of this study was to examine the use of the Short Form 36 Health Survey (SF-36) in the preoperative assessment and postoperative review of patients undergoing autologous chondrocyte implantation (ACI) of the knee. We used the SF-36, a validated health related quality of life survey, and The Modified Cincinnati Knee score, a commonly used knee function scoring system, to evaluate 25 consecutive patients preoperatively and 1 year following surgery. Before surgery, patients scored lower for all aspects of general health and level of functioning compared to a normalised general population. We demonstrated significant increases of overall SF-36 scores following surgery, reflecting improvements to perceived general health. Most significant improvements were seen in the physical categories of "Physical Functioning" (44.8 to 56.2, p=0.014), "Role Physical"(35.0 to 52.2, p=0.044) and "Bodily Pain"(33.6 to 50.9, p=0.001). Higher preoperative SF-36 scores were found to correlate significantly with greater increases of Modified Cincinnati Knee scores. Postoperative knee function scores correlated well with physical categories of the SF-36. However, we found poor correlation between postoperative Modified Cincinnati Knee scores and SF-36 scores for vitality, social functioning and emotional domains. This suggests that knee function scores alone do not incorporate all the benefits to patient health following ACI surgery. We recommend using a knee function scoring system and the SF-36 for both the preoperative assessment and postoperative review of ACI patients.
authors: Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital, Stanmore, United Kingdom. bartlettw@hotmail.com
authors: W
authors: W
authors: Bartlett
authors: C R
authors: CR
authors: Gooding
authors: R W J
authors: RW
authors: Carrington
authors: T W R
authors: TW
authors: Briggs
authors: J A
authors: JA
authors: Skinner
authors: G
authors: G
authors: Bentley
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D019902:Chondrocytes / Q000637:transplantation*; D005260:Female; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D007717:Knee / Q000601:surgery*; D008297:Male; D008603:Mental Health; D008875:Middle Aged; D011182:Postoperative Care; D011300:Preoperative Care; D012917:Social Adjustment; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014182:Transplantation, Autologous; D006113:United Kingdom