Outcomes in Total Knee Arthroplasty
A new published article, recently discussed the poor satisfaction among patients who have benefited from a Total Knee Replacement. The authors presented their findings at https://doi.org/10.1016/j.arth.2023.01.070
While a 2018 study have previously shown that more that 30% of patients who have benefited from a total knee replacement (TKA), have also claimed their dissatisfaction while recovering from their operation. Another study in 2019 has also shown that 20% of such patients are not reaching their expectation after the procedure.
To investigate that claim, a short questionnaire was created and sent to patients who have benefited from a total knee replacement. Up to one year after the procedure, 275 patients were identified following the surgical procedure performed because of Osteoarthritis.
The Osteoarthritis Outcome score and the Knee Society Scoring systems were used together to create a special questionnaire predicting successfully the dissatisfaction after a year of the surgical treatment. It was easy to interpret the results. After knee replacement in the United States, it was found that some 175,000 patients, yearly, may have not reached the expected level of satisfaction because of the persistence in knee pain or in any limitation in quality of life.
Total Knee Replacement is not for everybody and some may do better than others after the procedure. Be sure to discuss properly your options when a physician is contemplating such an operation. I thought this was my duty to bring the subject to light for all reading the AMHE Newsletter can be aware of the facts and opt freely to have a reconstruction or not.
Other articles have touched the subject as well.:
Journal of Arthroplasty. 2009; 24: 263-271https://doi.org/10.1016/j.arth.2007.11.005
Clin Orthop Relat Res. 2010; 468: 57-63https://doi.org/10.1007/s11999-009-1119-9
Bone Joint J. 2018; 100: 740-748https://doi.org/10.1302/0301-620X.100B6.BJJ-2017-1292.R1
HSS Journal. 2018; 14: 192-201https://doi.org/10.1007/s11420-018-9614-8
Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery British Volume. 2010; 92: 1253-1258https://doi.org/10.1302/0301-620X.92B9.24394
Bone Joint J. 2013; 95: 1359-1365https://doi.org/10.1302/0301-620X.95B10.32281
Arthritis Res Ther. 2009; 11: 1-13https://doi.org/10.1186/ar2811
J Arthroplasty. 2017; 32: 3854-3860https://doi.org/10.1016/j.arth.2017.07.021.
Maxime Coles MD