Purpose
The purposes of this study were to determine the frequency of acute and subacute complications
(within 6 months) of arthroscopic knee procedures in patients aged 17 years or younger
and to determine associated risk factors.
Methods
We identified all patients aged 17 years or younger who underwent arthroscopic knee
procedures at our institution from 1997 to 2009. Patient demographic and surgical
data were collected from the medical and surgical records, with specific focus on
intraoperative and postoperative complications.
Results
During the study period, 1,002 knee arthroscopies were reviewed. The overall complication
rate was 14.7%. Major complications occurred in 21 surgeries (2.1%) and included the
following: septic arthritis (n = 3, 0.3%), wound complication requiring operative
revision (n = 9, 0.9%), arthrofibrosis requiring manipulation (n = 4, 0.4%), other
unplanned subsequent surgery (n = 4, 0.4%), and death (n = 1, 0.1%). Surgeries with
an anesthesia time of 265 minutes or greater (
P = .026), operative time of 220 minutes or greater (
P = .013), or tourniquet time of 114 minutes or greater (
P < .001) and surgeries with 3 or more Current Procedural Terminology codes (
P = .003) had a statistically significant increase in risk of major complications.
The incidence of minor complications was 12.6%, which included persistent effusion/hemarthrosis
requiring arthrocentesis (n = 59, 5.9%) and superficial wound infection (n = 18, 1.8%).
Conclusions
Major complications after knee arthroscopy in children and adolescents are rare, but
minor complications are more common. If possible, surgeons should avoid prolonged
anesthesia, surgery, and tourniquet times. The pediatric patient's medical and family
history should be reviewed to identify important risk factors.
Level of Evidence
Level IV, therapeutic case series.
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Article Info
Publication History
Published online: April 07, 2014
Accepted:
February 19,
2014
Received:
October 23,
2013
Footnotes
The authors report that they have no conflicts of interest in the authorship and publication of this article.
Identification
Copyright
© 2014 Arthroscopy Association of North America. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
