Knee Surgery

Resection of a torn meniscus has no added benefit over sham surgery to relieve knee catching or occasional locking

Mechanical Symptoms and Arthroscopic Partial Meniscectomy in Patients With Degenerative Meniscus Tear: A Secondary Analysis of a Randomized Trial Raine Sihvonen, MD, PhD Background: Recent evidence shows that arthroscopic partial meniscectomy (APM) offers no benefit over conservative treatment of patients with a degenerative meniscus tear. However, patients who report mechanical symptoms (sensations of knee catching […]

Patient age, diabetes increase mortality risk after TKA

January 3, 2014 Older patients and patients with diabetes have an increased risk of mortality and postoperative complications following primary total unilateral knee arthroplasty, according to recently published data. Philip J. Belmont, Jr., MD and colleagues studied 15,321 patients who underwent primary unilateral total knee arthroplasty (TKA). They found that the results “underscore that diabetes […]

Knee and Hip Replacements May Be Bad for the Heart

Date: August 31, 2015 Source: Wiley Summary: Contrary to recent reports, researchers found that osteoarthritis patients who had total knee or hip joint replacement surgery, known as arthroplasty, were at increased risk of heart attack (myocardial infarction) in the early post-operative period. However, findings indicate that long-term risk of heart attack did not persist, while […]

Arthroscopic Knee Surgery: Harms Outweigh Benefits

NEJM Journal Watch June 17, 2015 By Christine Sadlowski Edited by David G. Fairchild, MD, MPH, and Lorenzo Di Francesco, MD, FACP, FHM Arthroscopic surgery for knee pain in middle-aged and older patients is not more beneficial than standard care beyond 6 months and is associated with harms, a BMJ meta-analysis shows. In nine studies, […]

Certain Knee Cartilage Changes Over Time Predict Replacement Need

5/14/15 Patients who underwent knee replacement exhibited less cartilage thickness at baseline and, over time, greater lateral and location-independent femorotibial cartilage loss than those who did not get replacement, researchers said. Furthermore, location-independent analysis of change in cartilage thickness predicted future knee replacement. These were among the findings of a U.S.-European prospective cohort study published […]

Weight gain after TKA has negative association with pain, function scores

Mackie A, et al. J Arthroplasty. 2015;doi:10.1016/j.arth.2014.09.003. April 1, 2015 Weight gain after total knee arthroplasty had a negative association with SF-36 pain and function scores, according to study results. Researchers identified 1,545 patients who underwent primary total knee arthroplasty (TKA) and recorded BMI and patient-reported outcome measures preoperatively and for up to 3 years […]

Pain and functional outcomes worsen over time after TKA, study finds

Singh JA, et al. BMC Musculoskelet Disord. 2014;doi:10.1186/1471-2474-15-440. February 24, 2015 During a study period spanning 1993 to 2005, researchers observed a worsening of patient-reported function and pain outcomes after total knee arthroplasty. The researchers reviewed data for 7,229 patients from the Mayo Clinic Total Joint Registry who underwent total knee arthroplasty (TKA) between 1993 […]

Knee Surgery Linked to Higher OA Risk

Published: Dec 4, 2014 By Ed Susman , Contributing Writer, MedPage Today Action Points Note that these studies were published as abstracts and presented at a conference. These data and conclusions should be considered to be preliminary until published in a peer-reviewed journal. CHICAGO — Individuals with knee pain who undergo surgery to repair meniscus […]

Knee Surgery: No Benefit for Those With Mild Osteoarthritis

Medscape Medical News Knee Surgery: No Benefit for Those With Mild Osteoarthritis Jennifer Garcia August 27, 2014 Arthroscopic surgery for middle-aged patients with degenerative meniscal tears and mild or no osteoarthritis provided no benefit when compared with nonoperative management, according to a new systematic review and meta-analysis. These results were published online August 25 inCMAJ. The review […]

High BMI, intensive physical activity increased risk of knee replacement

OrthopedicsToday August 18, 2014 Patients with osteoarthritis who had high body mass index and performed intensive physical activity at work experienced a higher risk of having a knee replacement, according to study results. Researchers prospectively followed 315,495 patients who underwent knee replacement and identified through the Norwegian Arthroplasty Register. Cox proportional hazard regression was used […]

Risk factors for knee replacement due to primary osteoarthritis

Risk factors for knee replacement due to primary osteoarthritis, a population based, prospective cohort study of 315,495 individuals BMC Musculoskeletal Disorders, 06/25/2014  Evidence Based Medicine  Clinical Article PubMed Reference Journal Reference Apold H, et al. – Osteoarthritis (OA) of the knee is a common and disabling condition. Authors wanted to investigate the modifiable risk factors Body Mass […]

Osteoarthritis more likely following ACL reconstruction

Barenius B. Am J Sports Med. 2014. doi: 10.1177/0363546514526139 May 27, 2014 Story Source Journal Reference Osteoarthritis was approximately three times more likely to occur in the knee of a patient who underwent ACL reconstruction compared with the contralateral knee, according to a study. Researchers conducted a regression analysis in 135 patients following ACL reconstruction. Patients […]

The risk of venous thromboembolism, myocardial infarction, stroke, major bleeding and death in patients undergoing total hip and knee replacement

A 15-year retrospective cohort study of routine clinical practice  The Bone & Joint Journal, 04/02/2014  Evidence Based Medicine Clinical Article Full Story PubMed Reference Journal Reference Pedersen AB, et al. – Authors examined the risk of thrombotic and major bleeding events in patients undergoing total hip and knee replacement (THR and TKR) treated with thromboprophylaxis, […]

Weight change following TKA, THA affects outcome

March 25, 2014 Patients who lose weight after joint replacement surgery have better clinical outcomes and activity levels, according to data presented at the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons Annual Meeting. “Our findings represent the first report to present evidence that weight loss is associated with improved clinical outcomes, while weight gain is associated with […]

Stem cell knee injection shown to regenerate meniscus, reduce pain

Vangsness C. J Bone Joint Surg. 2014;doi: 10.2106/JBJS.M.00058 Full Story Results of a randomized, double-blind controlled study in the Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery supported the use of human mesenchymal stem cell for meniscal regeneration and the control of knee pain. “There was evidence of meniscus regeneration and improvement in knee pain following treatment with allogeneic […]

Real Knee Surgery No Better Than Sham for Meniscal Tear

Fran Lowry December 27, 2013 In patients with a degenerative medial meniscal tear and no knee osteoarthritis, arthroscopic partial meniscectomy is no better than sham surgery, Finnish researchers report in the December 26 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine. “Arthroscopic partial meniscectomy is the most common orthopaedic procedure performed in the United States,” […]

Arthroscopic Partial Meniscectomy versus Sham Surgery for a Degenerative Meniscal Tear

Arthroscopic Partial Meniscectomy versus Sham Surgery for a Degenerative Meniscal Tear Raine Sihvonen, M.D N Engl J Med 2013; 369:2515-2524 December 26, 2013 DOI: 10.1056/NEJMoa1305189 BACKGROUND Arthroscopic partial meniscectomy is one of the most common orthopedic procedures, yet rigorous evidence of its efficacy is lacking. METHODS We conducted a multicenter, randomized, double-blind, sham-controlled trial in […]

Adding Pounds, Then New Knees

By LAURIE TARKAN November 11, 2013 Full Story:  http://mobile.nytimes.com/blogs/well/2013/11/11/adding-pounds-then-new-knees/ In his mid-forties, Charles Carroll, a letter carrier in Shrewsbury, Mass., started taking anti-inflammatory medicine for his achy knees. Despite his young age, osteoarthritis had begun to settle in. Over the next decade, the pain became so bad that at times he had difficulty walking. Eventually […]

Weight Gain Common with New Knees

Published: May 1, 2013 | Updated: May 2, 2013 By Nancy Walsh , Staff Writer, MedPage Today Action Points This study used knee arthroplasty registries and a population-based control sample from the same geographic region to determine whether knee arthroplasty increases the risk of clinically important weight gain over a 5-year postoperative period. Patients undergoing […]

Patient Satisfaction after Total Knee Arthroplasty: Who is Satisfied and Who is Not? – Full Text Article

Robert B. Bourne, MD Clin Orthop Relat Res. 2010 Jan; 468(1): 57–63. Published online 2009 Oct 21. doi: 10.1007/s11999-009-1119-9 Abstract Despite substantial advances in primary TKA, numerous studies using historic TKA implants suggest only 82% to 89% of primary TKA patients are satisfied. We reexamined this issue to determine if contemporary TKA implants might be […]