Why the study?
Postoperative ileus after total knee arthroplasty is clinically and financially significant but has not been extensively described in the orthopaedic literature.
What is the incidence and trend of postoperative ileus following total knee arthroplasty?
What is the incidence and trend of postoperative ileus following total knee arthroplasty?
The incidence of postoperative ileus following total knee arthroplasty is low and has significantly decreased over a 17-year period, potentially due to reduced narcotic use, earlier ambulation, and shorter hospital stays.
Ileus occurs infrequently after TKA; leaves open questions on modifiable risk factors and prevention in joint arthroplasty.
Ileus following total knee arthroplasty is a clinically and financially significant postoperative complication that has not been extensively described in the orthopaedic joint literature. Ileus has been found to occur in 0.7 to 4.0% of patients after total joint arthroplasty. In a 17-year period (2001 fiscal year through 2017 fiscal year) at one institution, we found an incidence of 0.500% (190/38,007) following knee arthroplasty. In addition, the incidence of ileus following total knee arthroplasty (TKA) has drastically declined over this 17-year period, from 1.593% (13/816) in 2001 to 0.120% (4/3,332) in 2017. This decrease may be attributed to a reduction in narcotic use postoperatively, earlier ambulation following surgery, and reduction in length of hospital stay. Though postoperative ileus is not yet a preventable complication, recognition of risk factors may permit earlier intervention to ameliorate some of the morbidity associated with this condition.
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Nguyen et al. (2019) studied this question.
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