Cost and Safety Evaluation of Simultaneous Bilateral Total Knee Arthroplasty versus Unilateral Knee

Objective  To measure the cost of simultaneous total knee arthroplasty, as well as the costs of total and intensive care unit (ICU) length of stay, perioperative complications and need for blood transfusion compared to the costs of unilateral procedure in a referral hospital, in Federal District, Brazil. Method  The present article is a retrospective study analyzing the medical records of patients admitted for unilateral or bilateral total knee arthroplasty, performed between June 2011 and March 2017. Seventy-four medical records were included in the study for evaluation of data such as total cost of the procedure, comorbidities, complications, days of hospitalization, and need for blood transfusion. Results  A significantly higher incidence of deep vein thrombosis (DVT) was found in unilateral procedures. Compared to the other data, no statistically significant differences were found in the relative costs or in the need for blood transfusion. Conclusion  There was no increase in the cost or in complications when comparing the simultaneous bilateral knee joint replacement procedure with the unilateral procedure, which corroborates most of the literature.