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Updated: May 12, 2026
Reverse Total Shoulder Arthroplasty
Published on: July 5, 2011
Revision surgery after total joint arthroplasty: a complication-based analysis using worldwide arthroplasty registers
Patrick Sadoghi1, Michael Liebensteiner, Mark Agreiter
1Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Medical University of Graz, Austria.
Insights
Revision surgery reasons for total knee, hip, and ankle arthroplasty differ. Aseptic loosening is common in all, but total ankle arthroplasty shows more technical complications.
Area of Science:
- Orthopedic surgery
- Arthroplasty research
- Biomaterials science
Background:
- Joint replacement surgeries like total knee (TKA), total hip (THA), and total ankle arthroplasty (TAA) are common procedures.
- Understanding revision surgery reasons is crucial for improving long-term implant survival and patient outcomes.
- Worldwide arthroplasty registers provide valuable data for large-scale complication analysis.
Purpose of the Study:
- To analyze and compare the primary causes of revision surgery across TKA, THA, and TAA.
- To identify specific complication patterns unique to each type of arthroplasty.
- To inform future surgical techniques and implant designs by highlighting common failure modes.
Main Methods:
- A complication-based analysis of revision surgeries for TKA, THA, and TAA.
- Extraction of data on reasons for revision from global arthroplasty registers.
- Pooling and analysis of revision causes to determine prevalence.
Main Results:
- For THA, the leading causes of revision were aseptic loosening (55.2%), dislocation (11.8%), and septic loosening (7.5%).
- For TKA, common revision reasons included aseptic loosening (29.8%), septic loosening (14.8%), and pain (9.5%).
- For TAA, aseptic loosening (38%) was most frequent, followed by technical errors (15%) and pain (12%). TAA showed higher rates of technical complications.
Conclusions:
- Revision patterns for TKA and THA show distinct differences in complication types.
- Total ankle arthroplasty revisions are notably associated with a higher incidence of technically related complications compared to TKA and THA.
- These findings underscore the need for specialized approaches and technical precision in TAA to reduce revision rates.
Abstract:
The authors performed a complication-based analysis of total knee (TKA), total hip (THA), and total ankle arthroplasty (TAA) using worldwide arthroplasty registers. We extracted data with respect to reason for revision surgery and pooled causes. The most common causes for revisions in THA were aseptic loosening (55.2%), dislocation (11.8 %), septic loosening (7.5%), periprosthetic fractures (6%), and others. The most common causes in TKA were aseptic loosening (29.8%), septic loosening (14.8%), pain (9.5%), wear (8.2%), and others. The most common causes in TAA were aseptic loosening (38%), technical errors (15%), pain (12%), septic loosening (9.8%), and others. Revisions in TKA and THA differ with respect to type of complication. However, in case of TAA, higher rates of technically related complications are reported.
