The Journal of arthroplasty
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Randomized Controlled Trial
General anesthesia: to catheterize or not? A prospective randomized controlled study of patients undergoing total knee arthroplasty.
This study was to investigate whether urinary catheterization could be avoided for patients undergoing total knee arthroplasty (TKA) under general anesthesia with saphenous nerve block. 314 patients from a single surgical team were randomized to receive either an indwelling urinary catheter or no urinary catheter before the surgery. The results revealed that the prevalence of postoperative urinary retention (POUR) was quite low in both groups (5.7% vs 6.4%, P=1). Additionally, the prevalence of urinary tract infection was significantly higher in patients using an indwelling catheter (5.1% vs 0.6%, P=0.036). We also identified age, male gender, ASA grade, benign prostatic hypertrophy, intraoperative intravenous fluid and duration of surgery as the risk factors for POUR in these patients.
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Comparative Study
Topical versus intravenous tranexamic acid in total knee arthroplasty.
The objective of this study is to compare the effectiveness of intravenous versus topical application of tranexamic acid in patients undergoing knee arthroplasty. All patients who underwent primary knee arthroplasty at our total joint center over a 12-month period were included in the study. ⋯ Two surgeons utilized a topical application of TXA for all patients without exception (n=198) in which the joint was injected after capsular closure with 3 g TXA/100 mL saline. The transfusion rate was 0% in the topical group vs. 2.4% in the IV group and this was statistically significant (P<0.05).
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Diabetes mellitus is an established risk factor for infections but evidence is conflicting to what extent perioperative hyperglycemia, glycemic control and treatment around the time of surgery modify the risk of prosthetic joint infections (PJIs). In a cohort of 20,171 total hip and knee arthroplasty procedures, we observed a significantly higher risk of PJIs among patients with a diagnosis of diabetes mellitus (hazard ratio [HR] 1.55, 95% CI 1.11, 2.16), patients using diabetes medications (HR 1.56, 95% CI 1.08, 2.25) and patients with perioperative hyperglycemia (HR 1.59, 95% CI 1.07, 2.35), but the effects were attenuated after adjusting for body mass index, type of surgery, ASA score and operative time. Although data were limited, there was no association between hemoglobin A1c values and PJIs.
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In the setting of current United States healthcare reform, bundled payment initiatives and episode of care payment models for total joint arthroplasty (TJA) have become increasingly common. The following is a review of our results and experience in a community hospital with bundled payment initiatives for both non-Medicare and Medicare TJA patients since 2011. We have successfully decreased the cost of the TJA episode of care in comparison to our historical averages prior to 2011. This cost-reduction has primarily been achieved through decreased length of inpatient stay, increased discharge to home rather than to skilled nursing or inpatient rehabilitation facilities, reduction in implant cost, improvement in readmission rate and migration of cases to lower cost sites of service.
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Bundled or episode based payments are new reimbursement models that shift the financial incentives for providing healthcare from simple transactional volume to accountable quality, cost and outcomes. This transformation to a value-based healthcare delivery paradigm will mandate increased collaboration between multiple and diverse stakeholders. Before implementing such a program, it is incumbent upon providers to critically assess their readiness and understand the complexity of what is tantamount to a major cultural conversion.