Long-term follow-up care recommendations after total hip and knee arthroplasty: Results of the american association of hip and knee surgeons’ member survey

• Published in: The Journal of arthroplasty Vol. 18; no. 8; pp. 954 - 962
• Main Authors: Teeny, Steven M, York, Sally C, Mesko, J.Wesley, Rea, Ruth E
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Elsevier Inc 01.12.2003
• Subjects: arthroplasty failure; Arthroplasty, Replacement, Hip - rehabilitation; Arthroplasty, Replacement, Hip - statistics & numerical data; Arthroplasty, Replacement, Knee - rehabilitation; Arthroplasty, Replacement, Knee - statistics & numerical data; clinical surveillance; Continuity of Patient Care; Health Care Surveys; hip arthroplasty; Humans; knee arthroplasty; long-term follow-up care; physician survey; Practice Patterns, Physicians; radiographic surveillance; Reoperation; knee arthroplasty; long-term follow-up care; hip arthroplasty; physician survey; clinical surveillance; arthroplasty failure; radiographic surveillance
• ISSN: 0883-5403; 1532-8406
• DOI: 10.1016/j.arth.2003.09.001

Long-term follow-up care is needed to evaluate and manage hip and knee arthroplasty outcomes, because impending failure may be asymptomatic. All active American Association of Hip and Knee Surgeons’ members (N = 682) were surveyed for recommendations for follow-up care type and frequency, radiograph interpretation, and clinical indicators related to follow-up frequency intervals; and to describe reimbursement experiences and practice demographics. The response rate (65.5%, n = 447) established a 95% (±3%) confidence interval for the survey results. We found that 80% of respondents recommended annual or biennial orthopaedic clinical and radiographic examinations, with more frequent follow-up times for clinical or radiologic signs of failure, previous revision arthroplasty, previous joint sepsis, and subnormal periprosthetic bone quality. Further research is needed to correlate follow-up care type and frequency with outcomes, complications, and costs.