Published online Mar 18, 2024. doi: 10.5312/wjo.v15.i3.230
Peer-review started: September 8, 2023
First decision: December 12, 2023
Revised: January 15, 2024
Accepted: February 2, 2024
Article in press: February 2, 2024
Published online: March 18, 2024
Processing time: 188 Days and 19.5 Hours
The volume of total joint arthroplasty is increasing rapidly and measures to decrease complications, increase efficiency and minimize resource utilization are important considerations.
The motivation for this project was to investigate if patients and surgeons learned or improved upon measures from the initial arthroplasty in subsequent contralateral procedures.
Our primary outcomes examined were operative time, length of stay, discharge disposition and 90-d emergency department visits and admissions. Length of stay was statistically significantly shorter. Total hip arthroplasty (THA) patients had a shorter operative time when the same implant sizes were utilized. There was no difference in 90-d hospital utilization.
We utilized retrospective institutional database review for data collection and univariable analyses to compare cohorts.
Our results show that the second side of staged THA performed had shorter operative time, but there was no difference in total knee arthroplasty (TKA). There were no differences in postoperative hospital utilization. There was a shorter length of stay after the second procedure.
This study reveals that patients had a shorter hospital stay after the second total joint arthroplasty (TJA) and operative time was statistically significantly shorter for the contralateral THA, but no difference was noted in TKA. This study seems to show that there is a benefit to pre and postoperative counseling in patient hospital stay and clinical course, and that there is a similar rate of postoperative hospital visits after the first and second TJA.
Future studies may examine patient reported outcomes and experience of pain after first and second total joint arthroplasty, as well as if implant type or bearing type may affect patient reported outcomes or outcomes.