A Randomized Controlled Trail Of Perioperative Blood Loss After Unilateral Total Knee Arthroplasty With Drainage

Objective A prospective Comparison of a drain or without drain in blood loss after Unilateral total knee arthroplasty. Methods A randomized prospective study was conducted between Fabruary 2006 and Fabruary 2007.The study included 100 patients who were divided into two groups: group A (n=50), which included patients who had a drain release, and group B (n=50),which included patients without drain release. Using Gross formula, the true total blood loss was calculated depending on the height, body mass and pre-and post-operative Hct, and hidden blood loss was gotten by subtracting the visible blood loss from total loss. The correlation between visible and hidden blood loss was observed. blood loss and transfusion amounts were compared and analyzed. Results All 100 patients undergoing TKA were involved in the result analysis. In patients with a drain, the total blood loss was 853±331 ml and the hidden blood loss 689±324ml.In patients without a drain, the total blood loss was 535±295 ml and the hidden blood loss was513±290ml.The total and hidden blood loss, blood transfusion amount between drain-group and without drain-group was significantly different(P<0.05). Conclusion Without a drain release could present an effective and economic method for reducing blood loss and preventing blood transfusion in patients undergoing Unilateral TKA.