Optimizing Total Joint Arthroplasty for Patients Living With Human Immunodeficiency Virus

Introduction Significant advancements in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) treatment have led to an increasing life expectancy among patients living with HIV (PLWH). Given this rise in life expectancy, as well as the ability to lead a more active lifestyle, the rate of total joint arthroplasty (TJA) in this population is increasing. Unfortunately, the current medical literature surrounding the safety and efficacy of TJA in this patient population is indeterminant. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to determine if optimization of PLWH prior to TJA would result in any changes in the incidence of postoperative complications and hospital length of stay (LOS) when compared to historically reported data.  Materials and methods A retrospective study was performed of all PLWH 18 years and older who underwent either a primary total knee arthroplasty (TKA) or total hip arthroplasty (THA) between 2009 and 2019 at our academic institution. Medical records were reviewed for each patient to assess demographics, comorbidities, preoperative laboratory studies, operative details, length of hospital stay, complications, and follow-up time. Patients were optimized using our institution's current optimization guidelines: body mass index (BMI) less than 40 kg/m², hemoglobin >12 g/dL, no tobacco use within 30 days of surgery, albumin >3.5 g/dL. Independent-sample t-tests and Pearson's chi-square tests were used to evaluate the continuous and categorical variables, respectively. Results This study included 47 TJA in PLWH, including 14 TKA and 33 THA. Out of the 47 patients, 13 (27.7%) were fully optimized for all four variables: BMI, hemoglobin, non-smoking status, and albumin. There was no significant difference between the group of PLWH that was completely optimized and the group that was not in any patient characteristics, preoperative labs, intraoperative variables, or postoperative variables, including length of hospital stay and complications. A larger proportion of patients not completely optimized was found to be active smokers (p=0.0003). All complications occurred in cases in which the patients were not fully optimized. Subgroup analysis of PLWH, who were completely optimized, showed an average LOS of 4.3+/-1.5 days following TKA and 2.9+/-1.1 days following THA. Subgroup analysis of PLWH not completely optimized showed that each case was optimized for at least one variable and that those optimized for albumin had the largest (12.2%) number of complications. Conclusion PLWH can achieve a low rate of complications and LOS similar to that of the general population if medically and nutritionally optimized. Additional research is necessary to reveal well-defined parameters for achieving a higher rate of optimization prior to surgery in this important patient population.