Hip and Knee Replacement Implant Failure Affects Significant Group of People

New York, NYWhile a number of lawsuits have been filed over hip and knee replacement implant failures, new studies are still coming out pointing to the potential negative consequences such procedures can have.

According to MedScape Today, a recent study suggests that patients with congestive heart failure and/or pulmonary hypertension have a higher risk of serious complications, including death, after undergoing bilateral total knee arthroplasty (BTKA).

The study, which was published on July 13 in Anesthesia & Analgesia, noted that while the bilateral procedure may decrease costs and time of hospital stays, it has been shown to have an increased risk of morbidity and mortality, as compared with unilateral knee replacement.

Researchers, attempting to distinguish which patients had a higher risk of such serious adverse events, examined data collected in the Nationwide Inpatient Survey between 1998 and 2007, which included more than 200,000 patients who had undergone elective BTKA procedures, according to the news source.

The results of the study indicated that the overall risk of serious effects and in-hospital mortality was 9.5 percent, with patients affected by congestive heart failure and pulmonary hypertension having the highest risk.

Additionally, the study suggested that age was a major factor in developing such complications as a result of BTKA surgeries, as patients who were 65 years of age or older appeared twice as likely to suffer the side effects as those between the ages of 45 and 65. A gender component was also discovered, as men were 50 percent more likely to suffer complications than women, the study authors noted.

The authors of the study, including Dr. Stavros Memtsoudis from Weill Cornell Medical College's Department of Anesthesiology, said that at the very least, the results of the study suggest that regulations should be established based on the benefits and risks of BTKA procedures.

"Given the controversy surrounding [unilateral vs. bilateral knee replacement] and the fact that a number of studies have been published in recent years on this subject, it may be time for the establishment of national guidelines to aid physicians and patients with the decision of whether to proceed with BTKA," the authors wrote.

In addition to this study indicating the potential risks of such knee replacement procedures, researchers from Australia also recently found that men who smoke may actually be less likely to need hip or knee replacements.

According to the study, which was published in Arthritis & Rheumatism, the researchers also found that those who are overweight as well as people who exercised vigorously were more likely to need joint replacement surgery, particularly for older patients, reports HealthDay.