The use of tissue adhesive as an adjunct to wound closure in knee arthroplasty does not reduce wound ooze

Khalefa, Mohamed A.; Smith, Lindsay K.; Ahmad, Riaz

Abstract

Introduction
Persistent wound ooze has been associated with prolonged length of hospital stay and increased risk of infection. Recently, the use of tissue adhesive after hip and knee arthroplasty has been described. We believe that knee arthroplasty wounds exhibit different behavior compared to hip arthroplasty due to the increased wound-margin tension associated with knee flexion.

Patients and methods
Forty-three patients undergoing total knee arthroplasty (TKA) by a single surgeon were studied. All wounds were closed using staples with or without tissue adhesive. Post-operatively, the wounds were reviewed daily for ooze. Dressings were changed only if soaked > 50% or if there was persistent wound discharge of more than 2 × 2 cm at 72 h.

Results
There were 21 patients in the tissue adhesive (group 1), 22 in the non-tissue adhesive (group 2) with the average age for group 1 of 72.2 years and for group 2 of 69.3 years. The median length of stay for both groups was 4 days (range of 3–7 days for group 1 and 2–6 days for group 2) (P = 0.960). The tissue adhesive group showed a statistically significant reduction in wound ooze on day 1 (P = 0.019); however, the difference was not significant on the following days. The median for the number of dressing changes for group 1 was zero changes and for group 2, one change. This was not statistically significant (P = 0.112). No complications were observed in both groups and there were no reactions to the tissue adhesive.

Conclusion
The data from this case series suggest that the use of tissue adhesive may reduce wound ooze on day 1 only. The latter is most likely due to significant tensile forces to which the knee arthroplasty wound is subjected in the immediate post-operative rehabilitation. Further, the cost of tissue adhesive is not offset by reduced dressing changes or length of hospital stay.

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Sep 24, 2020
• Online Publication Date: Oct 31, 2020
• Publication Date: Dec 1, 2020
• Deposit Date: Nov 16, 2020
• Publicly Available Date: Nov 18, 2020
• Journal: Knee Surgery and Related Research
• Print ISSN: 2234-2451
• Publisher: BioMed Central
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 32
• Issue: 1
• Article Number: 57
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/s43019-020-00073-0
• Keywords: knee, replacement, arthroplasty, adhesive,
• Public URL: https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/6851442
• Additional Information: Received: 1 July 2020; Accepted: 24 September 2020; First Online: 31 October 2020; : This study has been registered with the Weston General Hospital Audit and Research Department, under reference: PC243 which assessed it as not requiring ethical approval.; : The manuscript has been approved by all authors. I can confirm that all authors have consented for publication and have authorized me for its submission and all correspondence.; : There are no conflicts of interests, or any other competing interests.