Enhanced Recovery Protocol (ERP) for elective total hip or total knee replacement has become the gold standard. The main principles are to reduce bleeding, both with a tranexamic acid infusion and local injection of adrenaline, and to reduce the risk of postoperative thrombo-embolic complications by early mobilisation, enabled by local anaesthetic infiltration at time of surgery. The aim of this study is to evaluate the impact of the ERP. A retrospective review was performed including all patients who underwent primary hip or knee arthroplasty surgery between January 2011 and December 2013. The ERP was implemented in our department in August 2012 thus creating two cohorts; the traditional postoperative group and those undergoing ERP. Outcome measurements of length of stay, postoperative transfusion, thrombo-embolic complications and number of re-admissions were assessed.Introduction
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