Award-winning study identifies patient conditions that warrant caution for short-stay TJA (Healio)
Older patients, those with a BMI or diabetes were not linked with an increased risk for perioperative medical complications.
Researchers of an award-winning study found chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, congestive heart failure, coronary artery disease and cirrhosis were independent risk factors for a late complication after primary total joint arthroplasty. Having just one of these risk factors was linked with a 50% chance such a complication would occur.
“A significant number of major complications, it was 84% in our study, occurred over 24-hours postoperatively,” P. Maxwell Courtney, MD, said during his presentation of the James A. Rand winning research, which was presented at the American Association of Hip and Knee Surgeons Annual Meeting. “If you have a history of [chronic obstructive pulmonary disease] COPD, congestive heart failure, coronary artery disease and cirrhosis, you should not undergo short-stay or outpatient total joint arthroplasty [TJA].”
He told Orthopedics Today, “While it seems intuitive that ‘sicker’ patients would be at high risk for complications and sho...
