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Updated: Jun 21, 2026
Knee Arthrocentesis in Adults
Published on: February 25, 2022
[Study on how much sterile saline should be used for efficient lavage during total knee arthroplasty]
Wen-jie Weng1, Hai-lin Zhang, Wei Hua
1Department of Orthopaedics, Gulou Hospital Affiliated to Medical College of Nanjing University, Nanjing 210008, Jiangsu, China. wengwenjie@medmail.com.cn
Objective:
To investigate the volume of pulse lavage sufficient for removal of intraoperative bone and polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) particles.
Methods:
From 2007.11 to 2008.11, 18 patients with osteoarthritis underwent cemented TKA. Among the patients, 6 patients were male and 12 patients were female, ranging in age from 54 to 77 years, with an average of 61.5 years. The course of disease ranged from 3 to 9 years, mean 6.7 years. Pulse lavage with 1 L of sterile saline was performed for 8 times using a pulsatile irrigator after prothesis fixed. During pulse lavage, aspirated fluid was collected in a 1 L aliquot, and the weight of bone and PMMA particles in each fluid were measured.
Results:
The weight of particles peaked in the first 1 L lavage fluid and gradually decreased until the 8th lavage fluid. Significant differences were found between the first vs second, second vs third, and third vs fourth lavage. However, no significant differences were found beyond the fourth lavage.
Conclusion:
The results of this study indicates that 4 L of pulse lavage is effective for removing the bone and PMMA particles during cemented TKA.
