What’s New in Adult Reconstructive Knee Surgery

Abstract

Over the past year, areas of investigation in total knee arthroplasty (TKA) and unicompartmental knee arthroplasty (UKA) such as bleeding control, thromboprophylaxis, pain management, technology-assisted surgery, and infection received major attention. We have included selected studies, many at the highest Levels of Evidence, in an attempt to summarize the most relevant recent findings. Economics of Added TechnologyAhmed et al. 1 evaluated the adoption of computer-assisted knee arthroplasty between the first quarter of 2010 and the third quarter of 2017 in the states of New York and Florida, making use of 2 statewide administrative databases (the Statewide Planning and Research Cooperative System in New York and the Florida Administrative Data in Florida). The proportion of computerassisted knee arthroplasty increased from 4.89% to 9.45% in New York, and from 4.03% to 5.73% in Florida. In New York, that represented a 93.3% growth in utilization. One of the reasons preventing the widespread adoption of these new technologies is their increased costs. In a Markov model, Rajan et al. 2 ascertained the cost-effectiveness of robotic-assisted TKA compared with conventional TKA. Robotic-assisted TKA produced 13.55 qualityadjusted life-years (QALYs) compared with 13.29 QALYs for conventional TKA. Because of its higher QALYs, robotic-assisted TKA remains cost-effective despite being associated with higher costs as long as annualized revision rates stay <1.6%. The costutility of patient-specific instrumentation for TKA compared with the standard of care among patients with a body mass index (BMI) of >30 kg/m 2 was evaluated; patient-specific instrumentation was more costly and less effective 3 . A secondary analysis of a randomized clinical trial (RCT) comparing closed-incision, negative-pressure therapy with the standard of care after revision TKA revealed that the total per-patient costs for surgical-site management were $1,047 for closed-incision, negative-pressure therapy and $2,036 for the standard of care 4 . Knee OsteoarthritisGenetic markers seem to play a role in advanced knee osteoarthritis. Utilizing clinical and genomic data, investigators showed that age and BMI contributed more to the risk of developing end-stage disease than genetic factors. However, 7 genetic loci were significantly associated with end-stage osteoarthritis. The effects of genetic factors were greater in patients who were <60 years of age 5 . The use of hyaluronic acid and platelet-rich plasma remains controversial. Among Medicare patients, hyaluronic acid utilization increased from 1,090,503 patients in 2012 to 1,209,489 patients in 2018 (p = 0.04), and total costs related to hyaluronic acid services increased from $290.10 million to $325.02 million (p < 0.01) 6 . In patients with hemophilic knee arthritis, a trial compared the effects of platelet-rich plasma injections with those of placebo on outcomes over a 24-month follow-up. There were no clinically important differences in the Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Osteoarthritis I...