Quality of Life After TKA for Patients With Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis

Abstract

Total

Qualidade de vida e o contexto social de pacientes submetidos à artroplastia total primária do joelho

“…The positive effect of TKA on QOL has been established in some studies (5,6,(12)(13)(14)(15) . Jolles and Bogoch (5) studied QOL after TKA among patients with juvenile rheumatoid arthritis and observed that the instruments commonly used for assessing the results following TKA did not have the capacity to gather information of importance for the patients in the group studied.…”

“…In an attempt to fill this need, result evaluation systems that take into account the patients' general data have been developed. These include the Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Osteoarthritis Index (WOMAC) (5,10) . Clinical assessments on patients' state of health often reflect the physician's perceptions of the disease, frequently without correlations with patients' own perceptions about their health (11) .…”

“…an apparently poor result measured using scores may undervalue the real reach of the treatment for the patient's general health and QOL. This is particularly true for patients with multijoint degenerative disease, especially in cases of inflammatory arthritis and autoimmune diseases (5,11) . However, when the improvement in QOL is evaluated, i.e.…”

“…what the treatment has effectively provided for improving the patient's life, the result may be different. Although assessment methods like WOMAC may provide information on patients' general state of health, measurements that are more appropriate for obtaining information of greater completeness on their physical, mental and social status (5) .…”

“…At these stages of the disease, the consequences for the patient's general health, in its broadest view, result in in compromised quality of life (4)(5)(6) . Thus, it becomes fundamentally important to use an interdisciplinary approach towards listening to and guiding such patients, since a successful response to the surgical treatment also depends on the patients' adaptation to the preoperative and postoperative care, and their awareness of the objectives, risks and proposed benefits (1,3) .…”