Simultaneous or Staged Total Knee Replacement by Dr. Wei
Published on Dec 28, 2016
So??? you need knee replacement. Should you get them done one at a time or both at once??? next
Simultaneous Versus Staged Bilateral Total Knee Arthroplasty
Dr. Jack Cush writing in Rheumnow reported on a metanalysis from 2013 that identified 18 articles which included over 65,000 patients and compared those undergoing single as opposed to simultaneous knee replacements.
The incidence of mortality was significantly higher in the simultaneous group at 30 days (RR 3.67, 95% CI 1.68???8.02), 3 months (RR 2.45, 95% CI 2.15???2.79) and 1 year (RR 1.85, 95% CI 1.66???2.06) after surgery.
On the other hand there were no significant differences between the two groups with regard to in-hospital mortality R 1.18, 95% CI 0.74???1.88), post-operative deep vein thrombosis, cardiac complications, and pulmonary embolism or infection rates
Thus the higher mortality rate associated with bilateral total knee arthroplasty should impact patient selection for this surgical option. The good news is that there is no differences in other common complications associated with arthroplasty – infection, thrombotic events, etc.
