Effectiveness and Safety of Tourniquet Application Strategies in Total Knee Arthroplasty: a Meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND

We conducted the present meta-analysis to assess the effectiveness and safety of long-duration tourniquet and short-duration tourniquet for patients with total knee arthroplasty (TKA).

METHODS

Published randomized controlled trials (RCTs) were identified from the following electronic databases: PubMed, Embase, Web of Science and Cochrane Library from inception to January 1, 2021. Studies comparing long-duration tourniquet and short-duration tourniquet in total knee arthroplasty were included. Either a random-effects model or a fixed-effects model was used for meta-analysis depending on the heterogeneity. Statistical analysis was assessed using RevMan 5.3 software.

RESULTS

A total of 8 RCTs with a total of 484 patients were eligible and ultimately included in the meta-analysis. Compared with patients in the long-duration tourniquet, those in the short-duration tourniquet were significantly correlated with postoperative drainage volume (WMD = -71.85, 95% CI - 76.52 to - 67.17,  = 0.31), but an increased risk of total blood loss (WMD = 68.13, 95% CI 5.15-131.12,  = 0.03) and intraoperative blood loss (WMD = 137.13, 95% CI 69.06-205.20,  < 0.00001). Two groups showed no significant difference in operation time, visual analogue scale score of knee in early, transfusion rate and incidence of deep venous thrombosis.

CONCLUSIONS

Our meta-analysis suggested that the short-duration tourniquet in TKA significantly decreased the postoperative drainage volume, increased the total blood loss and intraoperative blood loss. However, it did not marked decrease the occurrence of transfusion rate. Although the incidence of deep venous thrombosis was reduced in some study, it was not statistically significant. Additional high quality RCTs are needed to identify the hypothesis. Therefore, we recommend prolonged use of tourniquets during TKA surgery.