Does Patella Resurfacing Affect Postoperative Blood Loss in Patients Undergoing Total Knee Replacement?

Patella resurfacing in total knee arthroplasty remains a surgeon-specific decision. Possible benefits of resurfacing include decreased knee pain and rate of reoperation, while complications can occur. No study has assessed postoperative blood loss and transfusion rate as a function of patella resurfacing. Certain patient groups such as elderly patients, Jehovah’s Witnesses, and coagulopathy patients may especially benefit from decreased blood loss during orthopedic surgeries. A retrospective chart review of patients with total knee arthroplasty performed by a single surgeon was conducted. In total, 124 patients were identified that met inclusion criteria with 34 patients in the patella-resurfaced group and 90 patients in the unresurfaced group. Hematocrit level was recorded preoperatively and compared with the hematocrit levels on postoperative days 1 through 3. The primary outcome of average percent drop in hematocrit and SD on postoperative day 1, 2, and 3 was calculated for resurfaced and nonresurfaced groups and data were analyzed for secondary outcomes stratified by sex. After analysis no statistically significant difference in postoperative blood loss between resurfaced and nonresurfaced groups was found.
Source: Techniques in Orthopaedics - Category: Orthopaedics Tags: Special Technical Articles Source Type: research