BASK Revision Knee Replacement Guidelines

Despite improvements in joint replacement the number of revision knee replacements (KR) continues to rise. Revision surgery is complicated, expensive, has high complication rates and can have poor outcomes, which have a devastating effect on the lives of our patients. At the worst end of this spectrum are patients with periprosthetic knee infections, who have a higher five-year mortality rate than many cancer patients and yet we have none of the guidelines and standards the cancer networks have. We lack the infrastructure, organisation, patient support services and multidisciplinary teams that characterise successful networks within the National Health Service (NHS); examples within Orthopaedics include the Orthopaedic cancer centres and more recently major trauma services. The delivery of revision services across the United Kingdom is haphazard and care is often provided by low volume centres and by surgeons who rarely do this type of surgery.