Total hip and knee arthroplasty in nonagenarians

Among 25 patients of mean age 91.5 years (range, 90-96 years) who received a total hip or knee arthroplasty at the authors' institution, 8% experienced surgical complications, 56% experienced at least 1 medical complication, and 80% received perioperative blood transfusions. At a mean follow-up of 4.1 years, patients were experiencing pain reduction and somewhat higher functional capacity and had slightly better survival characteristics than age-matched controls. Total hip and knee arthroplasty patients in this cohort should be told that they have a higher likelihood of experiencing perioperative medical complications and of receiving a blood transfusion than younger individuals; at the same time, they can expect pain relief as well as equal or better survival than their age-matched peers.