Ninety-Day Morbidity and Mortality in Risk-Screened and Optimized Patients Undergoing Two-Team Fast-Track Simultaneous Bilateral TKA Compared With Unilateral TKA—A Prospective Study

Simultaneous bilateral total knee arthroplasty (SBTKA) offers significant socioeconomic benefits. However, retrospective studies and public health data show increased mortality and morbidity rates in patients undergoing SBTKA compared with those undergoing unilateral TKA (UTKA), and there have been recommendations against the use of SBTKA. High-volume centers, which feature careful patient selection and fast-tracked surgery, continue to perform SBTKA and have published their results in favor of the procedure. However, the quality of evidence remains poor.

We prospectively examined 90-day morbidity and mortality of SBTKA compared with UTKA in risk-screened and optimized patients in our high-volume joint replacement facility. A total of 1200 consecutive patients were recruited in each arm.

Ninety-day mortality was higher in SBTKA patients than in UTKA patients (0.58% vs 0.42%, respectively; P = .5646). Overall procedure-related complications were significantly higher in the SBTKA group (7.25% vs 4.42%, respectively; P = .0034). The relative risk of cardiovascular complications in SBTKA patients was 6.5 times higher than that in UTKA patients (1.08% vs 0.17%, respectively; P = .0136). Neurological complications were 9.5 times more common in the SBTKA group (1.58% vs 0.17%, respectively; P = .0024). All other complications were comparable in the 2 groups.

Risk screening and preoperative optimization reduce mortality and overall complication rates in SBTKA patients; however, overall procedure-related complications, specifically cardiovascular and neurological, remain significantly high in SBTKA patients, for which a guarded approach is recommended.