What Would You Recommend for This Patient Interested in a Total Knee Joint Arthroplasty? Grand Rounds Discussion From Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center.

Abstract

Fourteen million people in the United States have symptomatic knee osteoarthritis (OA), a number that is expected to rise with an aging population. Patients with OA can benefit from nonoperative treatment. However, none of these treatments are disease modifying, and many patients eventually require total joint arthroplasty (TJA). The American College of Rheumatology and the American Association of Hip and Knee Surgeons recently issued a guideline on the optimal timing of TJA in patients with symptomatic moderate-to-severe OA for whom nonoperative therapy has been ineffective. In this article, 2 experts review the available evidence and discuss options for nonoperative treatment and the indications for and timing of operative therapy.