Sport şi Societate (Aug 2015)
THE IMPORTANCE OF PREOPERATIVE RISK FACTORS IN THE RECOVERY OF PATIENTS WITH DEFORMITIES FOLLOWING TOTAL KNEE ARTHROPLASTY
Abstract
A retrospective observational study has been conducted on 457 patients diagnosed with advanced knee osteoarthritis and that underwent knee arthroplasty. Two groups of patients have been observed: the first group presented deformities (varus, valgus) while the second group did not. There have been evaluated the prevalence of general risk factors (age, sex) and local ones (obesity, muscle tone, deformities) in the occurrence of advanced gonarthrosis requiring radical surgery and the influence of these factors on the evolution of patients¬ that underwent total knee arthroplasty. 53.6 % of patients had their knees correctly aligned while 39.8% presented a varus misalignment and only 6.1% a valgus misalignment. Within the group of patients included in the study, the average age of patients was 66 years and the highest frequency was found in patients aged over 70 years, both in genu varum and genu valgum. The female patients represent 74.4% of the total number of patients and more frequently affected by the occurrence of deformities. Obesity has been observed in 32 – 38% of the patients with deformities. Postoperative pain has been evaluated using the Visual Analogue Scale (VAS). In 50% of the cases, patients with varus and valgus accused early intense and severe postoperative pain (VAS 7-10). 32. 64% of the female patients accused level of pain marked as 7 – 10 VAS, while only 30.84% of the male patients accused the same levels of pain. Intense and severe pain is more frequently found in elderly patients. The deformities did not cause any important changes on early postoperative pain, obesity and muscular hypotrophy being the risk factors in increasing the level of pain. Postoperative recovery in patents with knee arthroplasty largely depends on preoperative planning, the surgical technique and, not lastly, the correct management of bleeding and pain.
