The prevalence of Parkinson's disease (PD) is expected to rise however reports of the outcomes of total knee arthroplasty (TKA) in patients with PD in the literature are sparse. We present the first study to compare short to medium term outcomes of TKA in patients with and without PD.

We performed a retrospective analysis of data from our regional arthroplasty database. In our PD group 32 TKAs were implanted. In our age-matched control group 33 TKAs were implanted. Mean age at operation was 73 years and the primary indication was osteoarthritis in both groups.

Data was collected pre-operatively and at routine 1, 3 and 5 year follow-up attendances. Median in-patient stay was comparable in both groups (P=0.714). Pre-operatively, there were no between-group differences in range of movement, Knee Society Function Score (KSFS), Knee Society Score (KSS) or Pain score taken as an independent variable (P=0.108, 0.079, 0.478 and 0.496). KSS improved in both groups post-operatively with no significant between-group differences (P=0.707). Improvement was maintained to Year 5 (median 30 points pre-operatively and 91 points at Year 5 in PD group). Pain score also improved in both groups. There was no functional improvement following TKA in the PD group. In the controls, an increase in KSFS at Year 1 was followed by a return to pre-operative values at Year 5. Complications in the PD group included 1 case of bilateral quadriceps tendon avulsion and 1 dislocation requiring revision.

Patients with PD benefit from excellent pain relief following TKA for at least 5 years after surgery.

Background

Metal on metal hip resurfacing has become popular worldwide for younger patients because of perceived advantages in function and ease of revision, due to bone conservation. Joint Registry data have shown increased risk of early failure, particularly in younger females. There have been few studies comparing the outcome of resurfacing to cemented total hip arthroplasty (THA).

Introduction

New methods to reduce inpatient stay, post-operative complications and recovery time are continually being sought in surgery. Many factors affect length of hospital stay, such as, analgesia, patient and surgeon expectations, as well as provision of nursing care and physiotherapy. Development of the use of postoperative local anaesthetic infiltration delivered intra-articularly by a catheter appears to be an effective analgesic method which reduces patient's opioid requirements and allows early physiotherapy without motor blockade of muscles. Our study aimed to explore if the use of local anaesthetic infiltration intra-articularly following joint athroplasty affected the patient's duration of hospitalisation.