RESUMO
Up to 20% of total knee arthroplasty (TKA) patients continue to experience chronic postsurgical pain. Various factors have been identified as potential contributors, including so-called "yellow flags", encompassing symptoms of depression, anxiety, and catastrophizing, which were examined in this study to assess their predictive value concerning functional outcomes after TKA. METHODS: Fifty TKA patients were categorized into high-risk and low-risk groups based on clinical assessment, demographic data, medication, and patient-reported outcome measures (DN4, SF-36, WOMAC, NRS, Fibromyalgia Survey Questionnaire, Pain Catastrophizing Scale, and Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale). Postoperative outcomes within six months after TKA were then compared. RESULTS: Both groups exhibited significant (p < 0.001) improvements in all WOMAC and NRS subscales, as well as in the physical function, role physical, pain, and energy/fatigue subdomains of the SF-36 after six months, while the high-risk group showed lower WOMAC scores regarding stiffness (19.0 ± 18.3 vs. 27.2 ± 20.7, p < 0.001) and pain (13.5 ± 13.3 vs. 15.1 ± 16.3, p = 0.029). The high-risk group showed significantly worse preoperative DN4 scores (1.8 ± 1.3 vs. 3.0 ± 1.1, p = 0.002) than the low-risk group, which persisted for one day (2.3 ± 1.2 vs. 3.5 ± 1.5, p = 0.005) and six weeks (2.2 ± 1.9 vs. 3.6 ± 2.3, p = 0.041) postoperatively. CONCLUSIONS: Our results indicate that pre-existing yellow flags contribute to a more challenging early postoperative phase, underscoring the importance of considering individual patient characteristics and psychological factors to optimize TKA outcomes.
RESUMO
BACKGROUND: Total hip arthroplasty (THA) is known to be the most successful orthopaedic surgery of the last century, but it is still struggling with controversies concerning one-stage bilateral THA. The current study aimed to compare the clinical outcome of patients with unilateral or simultaneous bilateral THA by using short-stem and straight-stem designs and focusing on operation time, blood loss, and length of hospital stay (LOS). MATERIAL AND METHODS: Between 2006 and 2018, 92 patients were enrolled in this study. Forty-six patients underwent a bilateral THA in one session, and forty-six matched patients underwent a unilateral THA. In each of the two groups (unilateral vs. bilateral), 23 patients received either a straight (unilateral: 10 females, 13 males, mean age 63; bilateral: 12 females, 11 males, mean age 53 years) or short stem (unilateral: 11 females, 12 males, mean age 60 years; bilateral: 12 females, 11 males, 53 mean age 62 years). The blood count was checked preoperatively as well as one and three days after surgery. Furthermore, the operation time and LOS were investigated. RESULTS: Compared to THA with straight-stems, short-stem THA showed significantly less blood loss; there was no difference in the LOS of both groups. A significantly shorter operative time was only observed in the bilateral THA. CONCLUSION: The current study showed that simultaneous bilateral THA appears to be safe and reliable in patients without multiple comorbidities. In addition, short-stem THA appears to be beneficial in terms of clinical performance and outcome, and it appears to be superior to straight-stem THA, regardless of whether the patient underwent unilateral or simultaneous bilateral THA.
