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Surgeon's expectations do not predict the outcome of a total knee arthroplasty
Huub J Meijerink1, Roy B G Brokelman, Corné J M van Loon
1Department of Orthopaedics, Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Centre, 6500 HB Nijmegen, The Netherlands. hjmeijerink@hotmail.com
Introduction:
It is fascinating for both the patient and the surgeon to predict the outcome of a TKA at an early stage. Satisfaction after TKA is primarily determined by the preoperative expectations of the patient. The purpose of this study was to investigate if the peri-operative expectations of the surgeon predicted the outcome of a TKA.
Patients And Methods:
A prospective study of 53 primary TKAs was performed. Preoperatively, the surgeon described the assessment of the difficulty of the TKA on a VAS. Immediately postoperative, the surgeon gave his satisfaction VAS about the procedure. After 1 year the surgeon's satisfaction VAS, the patient's satisfaction VAS and the KSCRS were determined.
Results:
The Spearman's correlation coefficients between the preoperative difficulty assessment, the immediate postoperative satisfaction and the outcome measurements after 1 year were all very poor (-0.01 to 0.23).
Conclusions:
The outcome of a TKA depends on multiple factors. Both the surgeon's preoperative assessment of the difficulty and the surgeon's immediate postoperative satisfaction do not independently predict the outcome of a TKA.