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. 2021 Apr 16;5(4):804-808.
doi: 10.1016/j.jseint.2021.02.015. eCollection 2021 Jul.

The influence of short-term complications on the outcomes of total elbow arthroplasty

Arno A Macken  1 , Ante Prkić  1 , Niels Vermeulen  1 , Iris van Oost  2 , Koen L M Koenraadt  2 , Bertram The  1 , Denise Eygendaal  1   3
Affiliations

The influence of short-term complications on the outcomes of total elbow arthroplasty

Arno A Macken et al. JSES Int. .

Abstract

Background: The reported complication rate after total elbow arthroplasty is high, and objective outcomes are not always predictive of satisfaction. This study aims to investigate the effect of a short-term complication on patient satisfaction and patient-reported outcome measures.

Methods: We retrospectively included 126 patients who received a primary total elbow arthroplasty at our hospital between 2008 and 2018 and compared outcomes between patients with a complication and patients without complications occurring within 1 year using t-tests or Mann-Whitney U tests. P-values were corrected using the Benjamini-Hochberg procedure.

Results: In total, 26 patients developed a complication (21%). At the 1-year follow-up, there were no significant differences between the groups. At the 3-year follow-up, patients with a complication had a lower median satisfaction score (8 vs. 10; P = .0288) and Oxford Elbow Score (27 vs. 43; P = .0048). At the 5-year follow-up, there were no differences between the groups. However, the number of patients who completed the 5-year follow-up is low (42 patients).

Discussion: Complications occurred in 21% of patients undergoing total elbow arthroplasty and lead to a decrease in satisfaction and Oxford Elbow Score after 3 years.

Keywords: Complication; Outcome; Patient-reported outcome measures; Satisfaction; Total elbow arthroplasty; Ulnar nerve symptoms.

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