Simultaneous bilateral total knee arthroplasty safe for octogenarians with painful bilateral knee deformities

With the advancing ageing population, there is a requirement for simultaneous bilateral total knee arthroplasty (SiBTKA) in older adults. There needs to be more clarity and better understanding to determine its efficacy and safety. Regarding SiBTKA, there is scarce data in the context of clinical outcomes in older adults, particularly in octogenarians.

The primary objective of this study was to evaluate the clinical outcomes and safety of SiBTKA specifically in the elderly Japanese population aged 80 years and above.

For the study, researchers selected 172 patients and divided them into two groups based on age. The octogenarian group included patients of age ≥ 80 years with 74 knees and the younger control group aged < 80 years involving 98 knees.

They used the Knee Society Score for knee (KSS-K) and function (KSS-F).

The key results of the study are:

· Follow-up duration was 3.5 years.

· There was an improvement in KSS-K scores of both groups postoperatively than preoperatively.

· In the octogenarians, both preoperative and postoperative KSS-F scores were lower but improvement rates were similar to younger controls.

· There were no significant intergroup differences in early or late postoperative complications, including infection, systemic complications, periprosthetic fractures, aseptic loosening, and mortality.

Concluding further, they said, considering SiBTKA, we found that clinical outcomes and postoperative complication incidence were similar for octogenarians and younger controls.

They found it to be a safe and effective treatment option for octogenarians with painful bilateral knee deformities.

Further reading:

Kaneko T, Matsudaira K, Nakamura S, Hayakawa K, Tokimura F, Miyazaki T. Clinical and safety outcomes of simultaneous bilateral total knee arthroplasty for Japanese octogenarian patients: a retrospective analysis. Eur J Orthop Surg Traumatol. 2023 Jun 28. doi: 10.1007/s00590-023-03634-7.