Total knee arthroplasty in advanced active tuberculous arthritis of the knee

Abstract

Background: While studies have indicated that total knee arthroplasty (TKA) is effective to treat the patients with advanced tuberculosis (TB) of the knee joint a consensus of views regarding surgical timing, prosthesis selection, and peri-operative antitubercular therapy has not been reached. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the safety of TKA in the patients with advanced active tuberculous arthritis of the knee. Methods: Eight patients with advanced active tuberculous arthritis of the knee were reviewed in this study from 2010 to 2017. The diagnosis of each patient was confirmed by postoperative histopathology revealing granulomatous lesions with epithelioid histiocytes surrounded by lymphocytes and positive acid-fast staining. Antitubercular medications and TKA with primary prosthesis were performed in all patients with one-stage TKA in six and two-stage in two. Local symptoms, erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) values were used for detecting the recurrence of tuberculosis. The hospital for special surgery knee score (HSS) system was used to evaluate the function outcomes of the involved knees. Results: Within an average follow-up period of 48.8 months, no recurrence of tuberculous infection was found in any of the patients. The ESR became normal (below 20 mm/h) within six months after TKA in all patients. The average HSS score improved from 32.4 ± 8.6(18-42) points preoperatively to 85.6 ± 9.7(68-94) points 1.5-2.0 years after surgery (p<0.001). All knees showed good integrity and no loosening of prosthesis was found. Conclusions: TKA for advanced active tuberculosis of the knee is a safe procedure providing symptomatic relief and functional improvement. A long infection-free interval is not a prerequisite for TKA. Wide surgical debridement and adequate post-operative antitubercular chemotherapy are the mainstay to eradicate the infection.