Abstract
Introduction
Increasingly, patients with bilateral hip arthritis wish to undergo staged total hip arthroplasty. With the rise in demand for arthroplasty perioperative risk assessment and counseling is critical for shared decision making; however, it is unknown if complications that occur after a unilateral hip arthroplasty predict complications following surgery of the contralateral hip.
Methods
We used nation-wide linked discharge data from the Hospital Cost and Utilization Project from 2005–2014 to analyze the incidence and recurrence of complications following the first and second stage operations in staged bilateral total hip arthroplasty (BTHAs). Complications included perioperative risks within 30–60 days, and infection and mechanical complications within one year. Conditional probabilities and odds ratios were calculated to determine whether experiencing a complication after the first stage of surgery increased the risk of developing the same complication after the second stage.
Results
13,829 patients who underwent staged BTHAs were analyzed. For 6 of the 11 outcomes evaluated, patients who experienced the outcome following the first arthroplasty had a significantly increased probability and odds of developing that same complication following the second arthroplasty, compared to those who did not experience the complication after the first surgery. This was true for digestive complications (OR=25.67, 95% CI=13.86–46.08, p<0.001), hematoma (OR=12.17, 95% CI=4.55–31.14, p<0.001), deep vein thrombosis (OR=4.82, 95% CI=2.34–9.65, p<0.001), pulmonary embolism (OR=12.03, 95% CI=2.02–46.77, p=0.01), hip infection (OR=2439.48, 95% CI=836.73–6759.85, p<0.001), and mechanical malfunction (OR=117.49, 95% CI=91.55–150.34, p<0.001).
Conclusions
The occurrence of certain complications after unilateral total hip arthroplasty is associated with an increased risk that the same complication will occur after staged replacement of the contralateral hip. Patients who experience these complications after unilateral hip arthroplasty should be appropriately counseled regarding their risk profile prior to undergoing staged contralateral hip arthroplasty.
Level of Evidence: Therapeutic Level III
Keywords: hip arthroplasty; bilateral; staged; joint replacement
