Multidisciplinary treatment in patients with persistent pain following total hip and knee arthroplasty

In a retrospective study, we evaluated the clinical outcome of multidisciplinary pain therapy (MPT) in a consecutive series of 40 patients with persistent unexplained pain following THA or TKA. Pain intensity, physical capability and psychological status were assessed before MPT (t1), after 3 weeks (t2) and at a mean follow-up of 32 months (t3). At t2, all scores demonstrated a significant improvement compared to the baseline value. At t3, pain intensity, physical capability, and depression levels deteriorated slightly but were still significantly better compared to baseline values. Anxiety scores deteriorated between t2 and t3 and showed no difference in the baseline value. The present study suggests that MPT has beneficial short-term and mid-term effects in this subgroup of patients and may avoid exploratory revision surgery.