Analysis of postoperative complications following elective arthroscopic surgeries of the knee- a retrospective cohort study

BACKGROUND: Since their introduction, arthroscopic procedures have been increasingly utilized for the treatment of knee pathologies, especially Anterior Cruciate Ligament (ACL) reconstruction. Reduction of post-operative morbidity, shortened hospital stay and recovery period have all been identified as the benefits of arthroscopy. However, despite tremendous increase in the number of these procedures done, the postoperative complications associated have been infrequently analyzed. Hence, we performed this study to analyze the perioperative complications of arthroscopic ACL reconstruction. MATERIALS & METHODS: We performed a retrospective case control study from our hospital database from the cases performed in July 2015 to December 2016. We included 20 cases who developed postoperative complications within 30 days of the procedure and 60 controls operated during the same period who did not have any complications. RESULTS: The complications noted in the cases were surgical site infection (SSI), deep vein thrombosis (DVT), effusion and superficial infection. The risk factors associated with each complication were compared with the cases and analyzed. CONCLUSIONS: It was found that the lack of specialist physiotherapy, surgical prophylaxis and prolonged postoperative antibiotics were the major risk factors in the development of complications among our patients who underwent arthroscopic ACL reconstruction.