Windswept deformity in bilateral total knee arthroplasty

Windswept deformity, when an individual has 1 knee in extreme varus alignment and the other in severe valgus alignment, is an unusual occurrence in patients presenting for bilateral total knee arthroplasty. This condition was evaluated in 22 patients to examine possible differences between knees in the same individual. Differences between the varus and valgus knees included alignment (P =.0001), as expected, and the position of the lateral joint line (P =.0161) preoperatively. No significant differences were observed between these 2 knee categories in any other comparison preoperatively or postoperatively. Total knee arthroplasty in patients with windswept deformity can be expected to be successful in both knees when attention is given to proper alignment and soft tissue balancing intraoperatively.