Influencing factors on perioperative morbidity in knee arthroplasty

In an unselected, prospective case control study, the incidence of risk fac tors and perioperative complications was investigated in 237 knees (203 pat ients) undergoing implantation of cementless total knee endoprostheses. Int raoperative complications and postoperative complications occurred in 84 pa tients (99 knees), with 61 specific orthopaedic complications in 50 patient s (57 knees) and 74 nonsurgical complications in 55 patients (65 knees), Th e presence of cardiac, neurologic, or psychiatric concomitant diseases, adv anced age, male gender, high-risk anesthesia scores, number and extent of i ntraoperative blood pressure fluctuations, and surgery under intubation ane sthesia are associated significantly with the incidence of nonsurgical peri operative complications, In contrast, body weight, concomitant metabolic an d circulatory diseases, previous surgery on the joint, origin of the articu lar disease, and the duration of surgery and tourniquet time do not correla te with the probability of a nonsurgical perioperative complication. A sign ificant correlation with the parameters investigated could not be found for the occurrence of specific orthopaedic complications. The current report i dentifies specific risk factors that define patients with risk of having pe rioperative complications according to objective criteria. These parameters must be given individual consideration when establishing the indication an d planning of surgery.