Peripheral Vascular Disease is Associated with Increased Risk of Acute Postoperative Infection and Failure of Total Ankle Replacements

• Main Authors: Matthew S. Conti MD, Oleksandr Savenkov PhD, Scott J. Ellis MD
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: SAGE Publishing 2019-10-01
• Series: Foot & Ankle Orthopaedics
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.1177/2473011419S00149

Category: Ankle Arthritis Introduction/Purpose: Peripheral vascular disease (PVD) is often cited as a contraindication for total ankle replacement (TAR); however, there are no studies looking at its impact on postoperative complications. The primary purpose of our study was to identify whether preoperative PVD increased the rate of infection, postoperative irrigation and debridement, or failure of the implant in patients undergoing total ankle arthroplasty using a large dataset. Methods: The PearlDiver Database was used to identify Medicare patients who underwent a TAR from 2005 to 2014 using ICD- 9 and CPT codes. The cohort was queried for postoperative infections within 90 days, subsequent irrigation and debridement, and failure of TAR. Failure of TAR was defined was a revision, conversion to tibiotalar arthrodesis, lower extremity amputation, or implant removal. A diagnosis of preoperative PVD only included those patients who had PVD as an ICD-9 diagnosis code and underwent a preoperative lower extremity angiogram prior to TAR. Preoperative co-morbidities including prior corticosteroid injections, diabetes mellitus, smoking, rheumatoid arthritis, congestive heart failure, hypertension, obesity, and end-stage renal disease requiring dialysis were taken into consideration. Three multivariable logistic regression models were then developed in order to identify risk factors associated with postoperative infections and failure after TAR. Results: 10,698 Medicare patients who underwent a primary TAR were identified. 334 patients had a postoperative infection within 90 days of their TAR and 95 of those patients required an irrigation and debridement. Patients with a preoperative diagnosis of PVD had the highest acute infection rate at 10.5% as well as the highest incidence of failure at 12.3%. Multivariable logistic regression modeling demonstrated that patients with PVD had the greatest risk of developing a postoperative infection within 90 days (OR 2.85, 95% CI 1.45-5.13, P<0.01). Preoperative PVD was the most important risk factor for requiring an irrigation and debridement postoperatively (OR 4.87, 95% CI 1.94–10.6, P<0.001) (Table 1) and placed patients at the highest risk of TAR failure (OR 2.67, 95% CI 1.43–4.63, P<0.001). Conclusion: Our study suggests that a preoperative diagnosis of PVD has significant negative effects on outcomes following TAR. Preoperative PVD is an independent risk factor for an acute postoperative infection, postoperative irrigation and debridement, and failure of the implant.