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Higher Early Mortality with Simultaneous Rather than Staged Bilateral TKAs: Results From the Swedish Knee Arthroplasty Register

  • Original Article
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Clinical Orthopaedics and Related Research

Abstract

Patients with knee osteoarthritis (OA) often present with symptoms that warrant bilateral TKAs. There are potential benefits to operating on both knees on the same day, but the safety of simultaneous bilateral TKAs has been questioned. To evaluate whether there were any differences in 30-day mortality between patients having simultaneous bilateral TKAs and those having staged bilateral TKAs, we analyzed data from the Swedish Knee Arthroplasty Register and the Swedish Cause of Death Register. We included 48,931 patients with OA having 60,062 primary TKAs during 1985 to 2004; 1139 had surgery on both knees on the same day (simultaneous bilateral) and 3432 had surgery on both knees on two different occasions with less than 1 year between operations (staged bilateral). The 30-day mortality after simultaneous bilateral TKAs was 7.53 (confidence interval, 2.62–21.69) times higher than after the second of staged TKA and 3.77 (confidence interval, 2.04–6.98) times higher than after a primary unilateral TKA. Assuming the total risk for a staged procedure is twice that of a unilateral procedure, the risk of mortality within 30 days is 1.94 (confidence interval, 1.05–3.59) times higher with simultaneous than staged TKA. It is safer to operate on one knee at a time.

Level of Evidence: Level II, therapeutic study. See the Guidelines for Authors for a complete description of levels of evidence.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Jonas Ranstam, PhD, CSTAT, for assistance with the statistical analysis and Philippe Wagner, MSc, for assistance with mortality data.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Orthopaedics and Clinical Sciences, Lund University Hospital, 22185, Lund, Sweden

    Anna Stefánsdóttir MD, Lars Lidgren PhD & Otto Robertsson MD, PhD

Authors
  1. Anna Stefánsdóttir MD
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  2. Lars Lidgren PhD
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  3. Otto Robertsson MD, PhD
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Anna Stefánsdóttir MD.

Additional information

One or more of the authors (AS, LL, OR) have received funding from Stiftelsen vanföra i Skåne, the Medical Faculty, Lund University, the Swedish Association of Local Authorities and Regions, and the Swedish Research Council.

Each author certifies that his or her institution has approved the human protocol for this investigation and that all investigations were conducted in conformity with ethical principles of research.

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Stefánsdóttir, A., Lidgren, L. & Robertsson, O. Higher Early Mortality with Simultaneous Rather than Staged Bilateral TKAs: Results From the Swedish Knee Arthroplasty Register. Clin Orthop Relat Res 466, 3066–3070 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11999-008-0404-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11999-008-0404-3

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