Tourniquet use during primary total knee arthroplasty-a survey of Irish orthopaedic surgeons in 2022.

Abstract

Tourniquet use during primary total knee arthroplasty is a debated topic in the literature with no consensus on its optimal use. To analyse current tourniquet practice amongst Irish orthopaedic surgeons performing primary total knee arthroplasty surgery. To evaluate if there has been a shift in practice in recent years and to explore potential reasons behind this. An eleven-question online survey was developed using the online platform SurveyMonkey. This was distributed by email to Irish orthopaedic surgeons via the Irish Institute of Trauma and Orthopaedic Surgery. Fifty responses were included in the final analysis of this study. Eighteen (36%) respondents reported changing their tourniquet use in the past 5years. Thirty-one (62%) respondents reported inflating the tourniquet for the entire case, with the remaining never applying a tourniquet (n = 6, 12%), applying a tourniquet but not routinely inflating it (n = 3, 6%), or inflating the tourniquet only during cementation (n = 5, 10%). The number of years of experience as a consultant appeared to impact tourniquet use in a bimodal pattern. While the majority of Irish orthopaedic surgeons in this survey inflate a tourniquet for the entire surgical procedure, there is a definite shift towards reduced tourniquet use compared to previous Irish, UK, and American surveys.