Researchers find better than expected outcomes for patients with lupus after TJA

Patients with lupus who undergo total joint arthroplasty experience far fewer adverse events than previously thought, according to a study from researchers at Hospital for Special Surgery.

Although patients with lupus reported worse pain and function scores than patients who did not have lupus prior to surgery, Lisa A. Mandl, MD, MPH, a rheumatologist from Hospital for Special Surgery, and colleagues found similar scores at 2 years after surgery. However, lupus patients had significantly worse SF-36 scores both before and after surgery as compared to patients who did not have lupus.

Mandl and colleagues also concluded that patients with lupus undergoing total hip arthroplasty (THA) showed more signs of lupus-related illness than the patients undergoing total knee arthroplasty (TKA).

The majority of THA patients in the study showed signs of osteonecrosis, whereas the majority of TKA patients did not. The THA patients were also younger and showed signs of kidney disease and high blood pressure compared to the patients undergoing TKA. The TKA patients were also heavier and had outcomes similar to osteoarthritis (OA) patients, Mandl said.

“People have thought of these lupus patients as very ill and, yes, they are worse when they go into surgery and they are sicker when you look at their comorbidities, but actually they do almost as well as the OA patients,” Mandl stated in a press release.

Reference:

Shah U. Paper #2443. Presented at: American College of Rheumatology Annual Meeting. Nov. 9 – 14, 2012; Washington D.C.

Disclosure: The authors received grant support from the Centers for Education and Research on Therapeutics from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.