Abstract
We studied the influence of different femoral alignment systems on blood loss and the need for blood transfusion after total knee arthroplasty. We retrospectively recorded the blood loss in two groups of consecutive patients. The first group consisted of 46 patients in whom the total knee arthroplasty was performed using an intramedullary femoral alignment system and the second group consisted of 45 patients in whom the procedure was performed with the extramedullary system.
In the first group, the mean volume of drained blood was 758 milliliters, while in the second group it was 613 milliliters (p< 0.05). More patients in the first group required blood transfusions, but there was no significant difference in the number of blood units transfused per patient.
In conclusion, extramedullary femoral alignment instrumentation reduces the blood loss after the cementless total knee arthroplasty.
The abstracts were prepared by Orah Naor. Correspondence should be addressed to him at the Israel Orthopaedic Association, PO Box 7845, Haifa 31074, Israel.
