Original Article

Anemia before reimplantation surgery

An overlooked modifiable risk factor of septic revision knee arthroplasty failure

¹ Département d’Anesthésie-Réanimation, Hôpital de la Croix-Rousse, Hospices Civils de Lyon, Université Claude Bernard, 69004 Lyon, France
² Orthopaedics Surgery and Sports Medicine Department, FIFA Medical Center of Excellence, Croix-Rousse Hospital, Lyon University Hospital, 103 Grande rue de la Croix Rousse, 69004 Lyon, France
³ Centre Interrégional de Référence Pour la Prise en Charge des Infections Ostéo-Articulaires Complexes (CRIOAc Lyon), Hôpital de la Croix-Rousse, 93 Grande Rue de la Croix-Rousse, 69004 Lyon, France
⁴ Service des Maladies Infectieuses et Tropicales, Hospices Civils de Lyon, Hôpital de la Croix-Rousse, 93 Grande Rue de la Croix-Rousse, 69004 Lyon, France
⁵ EA 7425 HESPER, Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1, 69003 Lyon, France
⁶ Univ Lyon, Claude Bernard Lyon 1 University, IFSTTAR, LBMC UMR_T9406, 69622 Lyon, France

^* Corresponding author: mikhail.dziadzko@chu-lyon.fr

Received: 12 November 2020
Accepted: 14 November 2020

Abstract

Introduction: Preoperative anemia in patients undergoing a two-stage septic revision arthroplasty may be a factor of reinfection, even in the presence of aggressive antimicrobial therapy. Patient Blood Management (PBM) in such patients is challenging. We evaluate the impact of anemia existing before re-implantation on a failure rate after two-stage septic total knee arthroplasty (rTKA), and explore feasibility of a PBM strategy implementation in these patients. Materials and methods: A retrospective study of patients from January 2010 to January 2015 in a French regional referral center was performed. Patients undergoing a two-stage rTKA for infection after successful primary TKA were identified and followed up to 31.12.2018. The primary outcome (failure) was defined as surgical site infection after re-implantation requiring new surgery. The secondary outcomes were time to failure, the time between explantation/reimplantation, transfusion rate during the second stage. Preoperative anemia was defined as Hb level < 12 g/L before the re-implantation. Results: 69 patients were identified; 17 (24%) developed reinfection of rTKA in 105 [11.4–156] days. In these patients pre-implantation anemia was more frequent (n = 13(76.5%) in failed vs. n = 21(40%) in non-failed, p = 0.0110). During the explantation stage, there were no significant group differences in age, sex, comorbidity, type of spacer and antimicrobial therapy, iron supplementation, or transfusion rate. The median time between explantation/reimplantation surgery was 51 [43–71.5] days, indifferent between the two groups. Intraoperative transfusion during reimplantation was required in 12 (17%) patients, more frequent in failed patients. None of the patients had contraindications for the PBM strategy except the cell-saver use. Conclusion: In two-stage septic rTKA preoperative anemia was almost two times more frequent and associated with an elevated rate of septic failure. The time-frame between explantation and-re-implantation is sufficient to implement a PBM strategy for all anemic patients. Before-after studies would be of interest to determine the best PBM strategy to prevent anemia-associated septic failure in such a condition.