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Study identifies adverse events and risk factors after knee arthroscopy
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Australian researchers in this study found the most common adverse events after knee arthroscopy included kidney disease, myocardial infarction, cerebrovascular accident and cancer.
The researchers collected data on 180,717 elective knee arthroscopies in a retrospective, longitudinal cohort study of patients from the Victorian Admitted Episodes database in Victoria, Australia from July 2000 to June 2009. They looked for adverse events including pulmonary embolism (PE), deep vein thrombosis (DVT), hemarthrosis, effusion, synovitis, cellulitis, wound infection, synovial fistula, acute renal failure, myocardial infarction, stroke or death.
The researchers excluded patients who underwent any additional procedures other than arthroscopy. They noted complications that occurred during admission and 30 days postoperatively and if PE, DVT or death occurred up to 90 days after arthroscopy.
Adverse outcomes occurring within 30 days included DVT, effusion, synovitis, PE and hemarthrosis. The readmission rate at 30 days was 0.77% and the researchers recorded 55 deaths. When recording adverse outcomes within 90 days of arthroscopy, they found 655 cases of DVT and 179 cases of PE. Risk factors for complications included older age, presence of comorbidity, marriage, major mechanical issues or undergoing arthroscopy in a public hospital.
Disclosure: This study was funded by Arthritis Australia.
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