The Risk of Revision After TKA Is Affected by Previous HTO or UKA.

High tibial osteotomy (HTO) and unicompartmental arthroplasty (UKA) are reconstructive surgeries advocated for younger patients. In case of failure or progression of osteoarthritis, they can both be converted to a total knee arthroplasty (TKA)

The Swedish Knee Arthroplasty Register: a review.

We are entering a new era with governmental bodies taking an increasingly guiding role, gaining control of registries, demanding direct access with release of open public information for quality comparisons between hospitals. This review is written by physicians and scientists who have worked with the Swedish Knee Arthroplasty Register (SKAR) periodically since it began. It reviews the history of the register and describes the methods used and lessons learned. Cite this article: Bone Joint Res 2014;3:217-22

Timing of preoperative antibiotics for knee arthroplasties: Improving the routines in Sweden

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>A slight increase in revisions for infected joint arthroplasties has been observed in the Nordic countries since 2000 for which the reasons are unclear. However, in 2007 a Swedish study of the timing for prophylactic antibiotics in a random sample of knee arthroplasties found that only 57% of the patients had received the antibiotic during the optimal time interval 45-15 minutes before surgery. The purpose of the report was to evaluate the effect of measures taken to improve the timing of prophylactic antibiotics.</p> <p>Findings</p> <p>Reporting this finding to surgeons at national meetings during 2008 the Swedish Knee Arthroplasty Register (SKAR) introduced a new report form from January 2009 including the time for administration of preoperative antibiotics. Furthermore, the WHO's surgical checklist was introduced during 2009 and a national project was started to reduce infections in arthroplasty surgery (PRISS). The effect of these measures was found to be positive showing that in 2009, 69% of the 12,707 primary knee arthroplasties were reported to have received the prophylaxis within the 45-15 min time interval and 79% of the first 7,000 knee arthroplasties in 2010. A survey concerning the use of the WHO checklist at Swedish hospitals showed that 73 of 75 clinics had introduced a surgical checklist.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>By registration and bringing back information to surgeons on the state of infection prophylaxis in combination with the introduction of the WHO checklist and the preventive work done by the PRISS project, the timing of preoperative prophylactic antibiotics in knee arthroplasty surgery was clearly improved.</p

Higher risk of revision for infection using systemic clindamycin prophylaxis than with cloxacillin

To access publisher's full text version of this article, please click on the hyperlink in Additional Links field or click on the hyperlink at the top of the page marked FilesBackground and purpose - Clindamycin has not been compared with other antibiotics for prophylaxis in arthroplasty. Since 2009, the Swedish Knee Arthroplasty Register (SKAR) has been collecting information on the prophylactic antibiotic regime used at every individual operation. In Sweden, when there is allergy to penicillin, clindamycin has been the recommended alternative. We examined whether there were differences in the rate of revision due to infection depending on which antibiotic was used as systemic prophylaxis. Patients and methods - Patients who had a total knee arthroplasty (TKA) performed due to osteoarthritis (OA) during the years 2009-2015 were included in the study. Information on which antibiotic was used was available for 80,018 operations (55,530 patients). Survival statistics were used to calculate the rate of revision due to infection until the end of 2015, comparing the group of patients who received cloxacillin with those who received clindamycin as systemic prophylaxis. Results - Cloxacillin was used in 90% of the cases, clindamycin in 7%, and cephalosporins in 2%. The risk of being revised due to infection was higher when clindamycin was used than when cloxacillin was used (RR =1.5, 95% CI: 1.2-2.0; p = 0.001). There was no significant difference in the revision rate for other causes (p = 0.2). Interpretation - We advise that patients reporting allergic reaction to penicillin should have their allergic history explored. In the absence of a clear history of type-I allergic reaction (e.g. urticaria, anaphylaxis, or bronchospasm), we suggest the use of a third-generation cephalosporin instead of clindamycin as perioperative prophylaxis when undergoing a TKR. No recommendation can be given regarding patients with type-1 allergy