[Use of allergy implants in Germany: results of a survey]

In a representative survey among members of the working group for joint replacement (AE) in Germany (86.7% response) it was found that 0.6% of patients with total knee arthroplasty (TKA) and 1.2% of patients with total hip arthroplasty (THA) may have a problem due to hypersensitivity to nickel or cobalt after implantation. Only one third of them may need revision surgery. Although patients with hypersensitivity are rare 84% of surgeons would prefer to use a specially coated allergy implant for knee arthroplasty patients. However, no long term results and few data on the topic of allergies and joint arthroplasty are available for these implants so that this has to be critically discussed with patients. Before a revision is performed it is recommended to perform knee arthroscopy to obtain tissue for microbiological and histopathological investigations. The second part of this questionnaire will look at the special question of how to deal with allergy patients based on constructed case examples.