Transesophageal echocardiography and clinical features of fat embolism during cemented total hip arthroplasty

Forty patients suffering from a medial femoral neck fracture participated in a prospective, randomized study. In 20 patients, the femoral component was cemented using a contemporary technique. In the patient group operated on with the bone vacuum technique, the medullary cavity was drained during the insertion of the stem. The proximal draining hole was placed in the intertrochanteric region, along the prolongation of the linea aspera. The distal hole was placed 2 cm below the tip of the femoral component. Embolic phenomena were documented intraoperatively by continuous transesophageal echocardiographic imaging of the right atrium and ventricle. The clinical relevance of the emboli was noted simultaneously by recording hemodynamic and blood gas parameters. Patients of the control group showed severer and longer-lasting episodes of embolism than patients of the bone vacuum group. Ongoing emboli were first seen during the injection of the cement, and continued during stem insertion. Massive emboli of small particles could be verified in 19 patients (95%) of the control group and in 1 patient (5%) of the bone vacuum group (P < 0.05). During massive emboli, a distinct decrease in the arterial oxygen saturation and the end-expiratory carbon dioxide level was observed. The calculated average pulmonary shunt volume showed an increase after the insertion of the stem using the contemporary technique (36.5%; P < 0.05). These distinct hemodynamic changes were not observed in the bone vacuum group. This study was able to show a clearly reduced risk of pulmonary emboli using the bone vacuum cementing technique. The presence of pre-existing disease greatly magnified the clinical relevance of fat embolism.