Study: Joint Replacement Safe for Liver Transplant Recipients

Liver transplant recipients who are doing well in the years following their transplant appear to be able to undergo joint replacement surgery without major short-term or long-term complications, according to University of Chicago researchers.

The researchers undertook a study of 1,200 patients who received liver transplants between 1986 and 2002 to determine whether arthroplasty -- which is safe and increasingly common among the general population -- can be performed equally successfully in liver transplant recipients.

They identified 7 patients among the 1,200 who had undergone 12 total arthroplasties -- 8 knee replacements, 3 hip replacements, and 1 ankle replacement. Ten of the joint replacements had been performed electively for osteonecrosis or osteoarthritis, and two hip replacements were performed for fractures.

"There were no deaths or major complications in the intraoperative and postoperative periods," the researchers reported in the journal Liver Transplantation. "On long-term follow-up, no patients have had pain, dislocation, or infection in the postsurgical joint. No joint revision surgery has been required."

"Our study suggests that joint replacement surgery may be safely and successfully performed" in stable liver transplant recipients, the researchers concluded.

Other Sources: Liver Transplantation