With increasing cost containment pressures, routine postoperative laboratory tests for total knee arthroplasty patients are not justified, according to a study in the Journal of Clinical Orthopaedics and Trauma.
The study authors conducted a retrospective review of 319 TKAs performed at a single institution over a two-year period.
Five things to know:
1. In total, 89 patients — 27.9 percent — had abnormal postoperative laboratory results, of which 78 percent were exclusively due to electrolyte abnormalities.
2. The rate of acute kidney injury was 3.8 percent, and the rate of blood transfusion was 1 percent.
3. Lab results did not change the course of care in almost all — 95.6 percent — of patients.
4. There was no increased risk for emergency department visits or readmissions within 90 days with abnormal laboratory values.
5. With the expansion of bundled-payment models, the very low rate of lab-associated interventions indicates routine postoperative laboratory tests are not justified, the study authors concluded. Obtaining lab results after primary unilateral TKA should be driven by patients' risk factors.