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Postoperative blood loss management in total knee arthroplasty: a comparison of four different methods

  • Knee
  • Published:
Knee Surgery, Sports Traumatology, Arthroscopy Aims and scope

Abstract

Purpose

As the blood loss after the total knee arthroplasty (TKA) is not only a potentially serious medical problem but also an economical concern, the purpose of the study was to investigate the effectiveness of different combinations of knee positioning and the applied wound dressings on blood saving after TKA.

Methods

A randomized controlled trial including 147 TKA-operated patients was conducted. The subjects were assigned to one of the four groups; Group 1—controls, Group 2—flexion, Group 3—flexion and compression, Group 4—compression. The main outcome measures of the study were the blood loss volumes during the procedure and in the intensive care rooms and the decreases in haemoglobin, haemotocrit and red blood cells on the first and the second postoperative day.

Results

The MANOVA results showed no differences between the groups in any of the observed parameters. The post-hoc comparisons of the each group to the control group also revealed no influence of any of the proposed blood saving techniques on the actual blood loss.

Conclusion

No significant differences among the four proposed blood saving methods were determined.

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Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University Hospital for Orthopaedic Surgery Lovran, Marsala Tita 1, 51415, Lovran, Croatia

    Tomislav Madarevic, Anton Tudor, Branko Sestan, Veljko Santic, Gordan Gulan & Tomislav Prpic

  2. School of Kinesiology, University of Zagreb, Horvacanski zavoj 15, 10000, Zagreb, Croatia

    Lana Ruzic

Authors
  1. Tomislav Madarevic
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  2. Anton Tudor
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  3. Branko Sestan
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  4. Veljko Santic
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  5. Gordan Gulan
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  6. Tomislav Prpic
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  7. Lana Ruzic
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Correspondence to Tomislav Madarevic.

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Madarevic, T., Tudor, A., Sestan, B. et al. Postoperative blood loss management in total knee arthroplasty: a comparison of four different methods. Knee Surg Sports Traumatol Arthrosc 19, 955–959 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00167-010-1309-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00167-010-1309-8

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