Very Low Risk for In-hospital Adverse Outcome Such as ST-elevation or Non-ST-elevation Myocardial Infarction in Patients Undergoing Knee Surgery.

Abstract

Knee surgery is a very common surgery. The risk of cardiac events is thought to be low. The goal of this study was to evaluate inpatients adverse outcomes such as ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) or Non-ST-elevation myocardial infarction in patients undergoing knee surgery. Using the nation inpatient sample database, we evaluated the occurrence of STEMI and Non-STEMI in a very large population. Using 2 random samples from 2005 to 2014, 10 years apart involving 7444 knee surgeries, the occurrence of STEMI and Non-STEMI were very low. In 2005, only 1 STEMI (0.0%) and 4 non-STEMI (0.1%) events occurred in inpatient knee-surgery patients. In the 2014 group, 0 STEMI (0.0%) and 5 non-STEMI (0.16%) events occurred in inpatient knee-surgery patients. Overall, STEMI or non-STEMI events occurred in 0.13% of inpatient knee-surgery procedures. Inpatients' adverse outcome of patients undergoing knee surgery is very low suggesting that extensive cardiac workup for knee surgery may not be warranted.