Pulmonary Embolism Immediately After Total Knee Arthroplasty

Introduction:Although the risk of pulmonary embolism (PE) or other embolic events associated with total joint arthroplasty have been recorded for some time, to date no direct means of these events in human arthroplasty have reported. This prospective study was designed to clarify the pathophysiologic mechanism of PE after total knee arthroplasty (TKA).Methods:Nine patients fulfilling the following selection criteria were included in this prospective study: diagnosis of osteoarthosis, age 60 to 75 years, cemented primary TKA. All patients had a baseline pulmonary perfusion scan 2 days prior to the surgery. TKA was performed in the standard manner under general anesthesia. Monitoring of the heart chambers during the course of the TKA was performed using a 5 MHz ultrasonic transducer placed into the esophagus. The 4-chamber view plane of the heart was then imaged using a 2-dimensional echocardiography. A tip of the catheter inserted from the contralateral femoral vein was also placed in the inferior vena cav...