Outpatient partial knee arthroplasty

As with other surgeries that were traditionally performed in the inpatient setting, unicompartmental knee arthroplasty (UKA) is shifting toward outpatient surgery. UKA has been demonstrated to carry significantly lower perioperative risk of complication than total knee arthroplasty (TKA) making the UKA procedure an ideal foray into the outpatient space for the arthroplasty surgeon. Surgery can be safely performed with same day discharge utilizing a multi-disciplinary care team and a rapid recovery pathway with a focus on patient selection, education, and outpatient care. Incorporating multi-modal pain control to minimize narcotics, reduces post-operative nausea and somnolence. UKA is associated with a very low blood loss and transfusion rate, but blood loss can be lessened utilizing minimally invasive surgical techniques and perioperative adjunctive interventions. Between June 2013 and December 2015 we have performed 975 UKA at our ambulatory surgery center with 93% of patients returning home the same day and 100% discharged in less than 24 hours. Through education and these specialized techniques and protocols, patients are discharged the day of surgery with low anxiety about pain and recover safely in the comfort of their own home.