Evaluation of short-term effects of tourniquet release time on postoperative hemoglobin after total knee arthroplasty

The tourniquet commonly uses in knee replacement surgery, but there is no consensus on the release time of the tourniquet. The aim of this study was the evaluation of tourniquet release time, on postoperative hemoglobin level in knee arthroplasty patients.

During one year, patients undergoing complete knee arthroplasty were randomly divided into two groups according to the inclusion criteria, the early release tourniquet group (opening tourniquet after cementation) and the late release tourniquet group (opening tourniquet after wound dressing). Hemoglobin levels were measured and compared at preoperative, 24 hours and one week after surgery. Also, Duration of surgery, blood transfusion requirements and early wound complications were evaluated in two groups.

The mean duration of surgery was 82 ± 11.2 minutes in the early release group and 73 ± 14 minutes in the late release group (P <0.001). Decrease of hemoglobin level at 24 hours and one week after surgery was 1.8±0.82 and 1.1±0.71 respectively in the first group, and 1.4 ±0.94 and 0.6 ±0.82 in the second group. In this study, the requirements for blood transfusion was more in the early release of the tourniquet group (4 cases in the first group and 2 cases in the second group), but this difference was not significant.

Late tourniquet release after wound dressing can reduce surgery time and reduction of hemoglobin level in total knee arthroplasty.