PURPOSE

To appraise the influence of knee arthroscopic surgery on subsequent total knee arthroplasty (TKA) through meta-analysis.

METHODS

A computer search was implemented from the establishment of the database to August 2023 for literature on the influence of knee arthroscopic surgery on the efficacy of subsequent TKA in Web of Science, PubMed, CNKI, Embase, Cochrane Library, Wanfang, and other databases. Quality assessment, literature screening, and data extraction were enforced according to the exclusion and inclusion criteria, and the methodological quality of the involved literature was assessed using the risk-of-bias assessment method recommended by the Cochrane Assistance Network. RevMan 5.4 software was used to conduct a meta-analysis on the postoperative revision rate, periprosthetic infection rate, postoperative stiffness rate, postoperative venous thromboembolism (VTE) incidence rate, reoperation rate, and postoperative knee flexion range of motion after TKA.

RESULTS

Seven documents were finally involved, with a total of 42,642 cases, including 3405 cases in the knee arthroscopy group and 39,237 cases in the non-knee arthroscopy group. Meta-analysis results show that in the revision rate [95% confidence interval (CI) 0.97, 44.82] and reoperation rate [95% CI 1.66, 4.23] after TKA between the knee arthroscopy surgery group and the non-knee arthroscopy surgery group, there were statistically significant differences in postoperative stiffness rate [95% CI 0.86, 10.84] and periprosthetic infection rate [95% CI 0.86, 2.07], while in postoperative VTE incidence [95% CI 0.83, 1.35] and in postoperative knee flexion range of motion [95% CI -0.35, 0.10] there was no statistically significant difference.

CONCLUSIONS

Knee arthroscopic surgery hurts subsequent TKA surgery. Previous arthroscopic surgery increased the risk of postoperative stiffness, revision, periprosthetic infection, and reoperation after TKA, but there was no significant difference in the incidence of VTE and knee flexion range of motion after surgery.