Kulshrestha V, et al. - This study involves a prospective assessment of 90-day morbidity and mortality following simultaneous bilateral total knee arthroplasty (SBTKA) vs. unilateral TKA (UTKA) in risk-screened and optimized patients in high-volume joint replacement facility. Findings demonstrated that risk screening and preoperative optimization afforded attenuated mortality and overall complication rates in SBTKA patients; however, these patients had significantly high overall procedure-related complications, specifically cardiovascular and neurological, for which a guarded approach was recommended.

Methods

• Researchers prospectively assessed 90-day morbidity and mortality of SBTKA vs. UTKA in risk-screened and optimized patients in their high-volume joint replacement facility.
• They recruited a total of 1200 consecutive patients in each arm.

Results

• SBTKA patients vs. UTKA patients had higher ninety-day mortality (0.58% vs 0.42%; p = 0.5646).
• Significantly higher overall procedure-related complications were reported in the SBTKA group (7.25% vs 4.42%; p = 0.0034).
• SBTKA vs. UTKA was associated with 6.5 times higher relative risk of cardiovascular complications (1.08% vs 0.17%; p = 0.0136).
• Researchers also found that neurological complications were 9.5 times more common in the SBTKA group (1.58% vs 0.17%; p = 0.0024).
• Findings demonstrated that all other complications were comparable in the two groups.