Although rarely seen with newer TKA designs this was a diagnosis seen in patients with TKAs and could be extremely symptomatic.

Patellar clunk was first described by Hozack et al in 1989.

Patellar clunk occurred when a fibrous nodule forms above the patella.  This nodule would get caught in the intercondylar notch in flexion and then cause a painful clunk as patients whet from flexion into extension.

This is a clinical diagnosis.

Patients tend to do well with arthroscopic debridement when there are no radiologic abnormalities such as loosening or malposistion.

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