Simultaneous primary and contralateral revision total knee arthroplasty.

Seven patients underwent primary and contralateral revision total knee arthroplasty (TKA) under one anesthetic in a sequential fashion. The average patient age was 67.6+/-6.9 years. Average blood loss was 764+/-568 cc, average operative time was 269+/-107 minutes, and average length of hospital stay was 9.6+/-3.4 days. One patient with a history of hypertension, diabetes, and coronary heart disease died from pulmonary embolism 7 days after surgery. Deep infection with enterococcus developed in the revised knee of another patient 3 months after surgery. For the six surviving patients, knee pain and function were improved by surgery. However, in this small series of patients, two major complications occurred. These results indicate that if this procedure is considered at all, it should be reserved for only healthy patients with relatively uncomplicated knee reconstructions.