History of Breast Cancer Increases 90-Day Pulmonary Embolism Rates and Reimbursements After Total Hip Arthroplasty: A National Matched-Pair Analysis

Rates of total hip arthroplasty (THA) are projected to increase in the coming decades. Multiple studies have focused on identifying risk factors for adverse events after joint arthroplasty, and recent attention has been directed toward cancer. Very limited data have been published examining the effects of history of malignancy on outcomes after THA. With a concomitant increase in breast cancer diagnosis and treatments in recent years, it is expected that orthopedic surgeons will likely see more breast cancer survivors in clinic. The purpose of this study is to examine the effects of a personal history of breast cancer on 90-day outcomes after THA.

We conducted a retrospective case-control study of the entire Medicare records. The endpoints of this study included length of stay, medical complications, surgical complications, and costs (examined here as reimbursements). Patients were matched by age and gender in order to decrease confounding. A 1:1 matching was performed.

After age and demographics matching, our findings demonstrated that patients with a history of breast cancer have increased rates of pulmonary embolism (0.59% vs 0.45%, P = .003), increased use of chest computed tomography (1.72% vs 1.18%, P < .001), and higher mean 90-day reimbursements (mean $15,432 vs mean $14,701, P = .011) in the 90 days following surgery. Other medical and surgical complications were equally distributed in both cohorts.

Surgeons should be aware of the increased rate of pulmonary embolism and have a more aggressive thromboprophylaxis protocol in these patients.