Perioperative blood loss in cementless or hybrid total knee arthroplasty without patellar resurfacing: a prospective, randomized study

The use of cement is considered as an important way to control perioperative blood loss in knee arthroplasty. We prospectively randomized 57 patients (60 knees) who underwent total knee arthroplasty with (30 knees) or without (30 knees) tibial cement to evaluate perioperative blood loss. The measured total blood loss did not differ significantly between the 2 groups (with tibial cement, 731 +/- 288 mL; without cement, 731 +/- 331 mL; P = .9117). The red blood cell count, hemoglobin level, and hematocrit returned to the preoperative levels within 3 months in both groups. Therefore, tibial cement does not appear to affect perioperative blood loss. This finding has implications when planning blood replacement in cementless and hybrid-type arthroplasties.