Abstract
BackgroundTotal knee replacement is a common operative procedure to improve pain, function, and quality of life in patients with end stage knee osteoarthritis. The current study aimed to compare simultaneous bilateral versus unilateral total knee replacement on pain intensity and recovery of function.MethodsA total of 80 patients (bilateral 50, unilateral 30) aged 63.28 (9.4) years undergone total knee replacement participated in the current study. The participants were admitted for 5–7 days in the hospital. Participants in both the group received similar inpatient and outpatient physiotherapy sessions. Pain intensity and function capacity were assessed at baseline, day 7, and day 30 postoperatively using visual analogue scale and lower extremity functional scale, respectively. Repeated measures analysis of variance was used to analyze the data.ResultsBoth groups showed a significant reduction of pain intensity (Day 0, mean 8.9, SD 1.0; Day 30, mean 2.2, SD 1.3 in bilateral total knee replacement; Day 0, mean 8.8, SD 1.1; Day 30, mean 2.0, SD 1.5 in unilateral total knee replacement; p < 0.001) and improvement in the functional capacity (Day 0, mean 16.2, SD 10.1; Day 30, mean 55.6, SD 14.6 in bilateral total knee replacement; Day 0, mean 19.1, SD 9.1; Day 30, mean 56.7, SD 15.8 in unilateral total knee replacement; p < 0.001) following total knee replacement at 30 days post-operatively. However, there was a non-significant difference noted between bilateral versus unilateral total knee replacement on the reduction of pain intensity (mean changes, 6.9 versus 6.8) and improvement in the functional capacity (mean changes, 39.4 versus 37.6) at 30 days post-operatively (p > 0.05).ConclusionSimultaneous bilateral total knee replacement was associated with a similar reduction of pain intensity and recovery of function compared to unilateral total knee replacement, suggesting the use of simultaneous bilateral total knee replacement in patients with bilateral knee osteoarthritis since its costs and rehabilitation process could be reduced compared to staged bilateral total knee replacement.
Highlights
Total knee replacement is a common operative procedure to improve pain, function, and quality of life in patients with end stage knee osteoarthritis
Mean age was 61.8 (SD, 9.2) and 65.7 (SD, 9.4) years in simultaneous bilateral Total knee replacement (TKR) and unilateral TKR group, respectively. Both groups showed a significant reduction of pain intensity and improvement in the functional capacity following TKR at 30 days post-operatively (p < 0.001) (Table 2)
Results of the current study indicated that both groups showed a significant pain relief and improved function after TKR at 30 days post-operatively
Summary
Total knee replacement is a common operative procedure to improve pain, function, and quality of life in patients with end stage knee osteoarthritis. The current study aimed to compare simultaneous bilateral versus unilateral total knee replacement on pain intensity and recovery of function. Total knee replacement (TKR) is a common operative procedure to improve pain, function, and quality of life in patients with severe grade knee osteoarthritis (OA) [1,2,3,4]. Simultaneous TKR is defined as the replacement of both knees in a single surgery. Previous studies have shown different perioperative risks between staged bilateral TKR and simultaneous bilateral TKR. An estimated cost of simultaneous TKR is almost half compared to staged bilateral TKR [11,12,13]
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