Association of Total Knee Arthroplasty with Previous Knee Arthroscopy

Abstract

Background- Before undergoing total knee arthroplasty (TKA), patients with symptomatic degenerative knee changes who are not yet candidates for TKA may undergo a knee arthroscopy (KA). At least 14 million Americans suffer from symptomatic osteoarthritis (OA) of the knee joint, making it a very common condition.

Objectives- The purpose of this study was to determine whether having had a knee arthroscopy in the past was linked to a higher risk of revision following total knee replacement.

Materials and methods- It was a prospective, observational-cohort study which took place at the Indira Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences (IGIMS), Patna, Bihar, India. The study has been conducted for one year. The study took into account the data from 50 patients in total. Among all patients, 25 patients underwent KA before TKA, while other 25 participants were not undergoing KA before TKA.

Results- The average age of participants in knee arthroscopy group was 55.6±12.9, while average age of participants of no knee arthroscopy group was 61.3±11.8. Most of he enrolled participants were female. Various other co-morbidities were assessed in both the groups including diabetes, hypertension, liver disease, anaemia, alcohol dependency, smoking, depression, obesity and chronic kidney disease. Post-operative stiffness and peri-prosthetic joint infection were found to be statistically significant.

Conclusion- An increased 2-year TKA revision rate is highly correlated with prior KA. Osteoarthritis was the most frequent cause of arthroscopy.