Bilateral Total Knee Arthroplasty: Current Concepts Review

Bilateral total knee arthroplasty (BTKA) is an effective surgical treatment for bilateral knee arthritis and can be performed as a simultaneous surgery under a single anesthetic setting or as staged surgeries on separate days.

Appropriate patient selection is important for simultaneous BTKA with several factors coming into consideration such as age, comorbidities, work status, and home support, among others.

While simultaneous BTKA is safe when performed on appropriately selected patients, current evidence suggests that the risk of complications after simultaneous BTKA remains higher than for staged BTKA.

When staged surgery is preferred, current evidence indicates that complication risks are minimized if the 2 knees are staged at least 3 months apart.

Simultaneous BTKA is the economically advantageous treatment option relative to staged BTKA, primarily because of shorter total operative time and total hospital stay.