American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons, March 7 to 11

The 2023 Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons

The annual meeting of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons was held from March 7 to 11 in Las Vegas and attracted approximately 30,000 participants from around the world. The conference highlighted recent advances in the diagnosis and management of musculoskeletal conditions, with presentations focusing on joint fractures, osteoarthritis, other musculoskeletal injuries, and factors impacting the outcomes of joint replacement procedures.

In one study, David Christopher Ayers, M.D., of the University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School in Boston, and colleagues found that patients of all ages experience significant improvement in knee pain and improved knee function after total knee arthroplasty (TKA), resulting in a dramatic increase in quality of life.

The authors performed a prospective assessment of a cohort of 11,602 patients who underwent a unilateral primary TKA. Comparing four age groups (younger than 55 years, 55 to 64 years, 65 to 74 years, and 75 years and older), the researchers found that the oldest patients experienced significant improvements in knee pain, knee function, and quality of life after TKA. The youngest patients (younger than 55 years) had more pain after TKA compared with the other three age groups. The improvement achieved in pain in the age group younger than 55 years was equal to the other groups, but because they had more pain preoperatively, the final mean pain scores were lower (more pain) than the other cohorts one year after TKA. Those aged younger than 55 years were more likely to be obese before surgery (body mass index >35 kg/m²), more likely to be current smokers, and more likely to have significant pain in their lumbar spine and other joints in their lower extremities than the other three age groups.

"This illustrates that total knee arthroplasty is a life-changing event for patients with advanced arthritis of the knee, regardless of their age," Ayers said. "Patients less than 55 years of age have more pain following total knee arthroplasty than the other three age groups. Surgeons should ensure that patients less than 55 years of age undergoing TKA have realistic expectations regarding pain, knee function, and quality of life after TKA and undergo preoperative optimization programs prior to elective TKA."