ABSTRACT
There have been many studies in the literature on the advantages and disadvantages of bilateral versus staged or unilateral knee arthroplasty. In this study, the results of bilateral and unilateral total knee arthroplasty cases during the past 3 years were compared. The records of all cases undergoing total knee arthroplasty between March 2005 and February 2008 were studied retrospectively. There have been 62 patients [105 knees] operated, from seven different countries. Among these cases, 43 cases had bilateral TKA, from which 36 patients underwent simultaneous intervention, four patients had staged TKA with one-week gap and three cases were staged with one-year gap between interventions. Except for two cases of postoperative delirium [probably due to transient fat emboli] and three cases of transient renal impairment, there had been no complications in the simultaneous bilateral cases. The need of blood transfusion was significantly higher in simultaneous cases [1.7 unit/patient] compared to unilateral cases [0.6 unit/patient]. There were no major problems with the simultaneous bilateral total knee arthroplasty. In the case of bilateral varus deformity, the postoperative rehabilitation was easier and the patients were more satisfied. Moreover, considering the fact that most of our patients came from various countries, simultaneous total knee replacement effectively reduced the hospitalization costs and related expenses