Knee replacement surgery for post cardiac stenting patients

Recently, we successfully performed knee replacement surgery on 2 patients who had undergone cardiac stenting, and the procedure and post-surgery recovery went smoothly, and the patients have been discharged from the hospital. Patient 1, female, 81 years old, had 4 cardiac stents placed 4 years ago due to angina pectoris from coronary artery disease. Patient 2, an 85-year-old male, had 3 stents placed 3 years ago for angina pectoris. The common feature was that the heart was very stable after the operation and there was no more angina attack. The patient had been suffering from osteoarthritis in both knees for many years, which was painful and seriously affected his walking, and the X-ray showed typical severe osteoarthropathic changes with a clear indication for surgery. The patient strongly requested surgery. After the two patients were hospitalized in orthopedics successively, we conducted detailed examination and evaluation of the patients, including the heart, blood, respiratory, endocrine and other systems, and also invited cardiologists and anesthesiologists for consultation, and concluded that there was no problem in withstanding the total knee replacement surgery and the postoperative rehabilitation and exercise, and decided to operate the surgery. Anticoagulants were stopped 7 days before surgery. Although both knees were severely diseased and the patient requested a single surgery for both knee replacements, we performed a single knee replacement for the patient for safety reasons, and then did the other side in the second stage. The surgery went well. The postoperative period was characterized by 1) good pain relief, 2) gentle rehabilitation training sessions, divided into multiple sessions, 3) attention to the cardiac condition, appropriate use of drugs to improve cardiac circulation, 4) close observation and meticulous care. Of course, we are not advocating such a high age and risky surgery, just an objective introduction. It is also necessary to strictly select the case, extremely careful decision-making surgery, meticulous measures to deal with the crisis. Informed consent and family counseling should be in place. We have done similar knee replacements in the past on patients of advanced age.