A new study published in the Journal of Arthroplasty compares outpatient and inpatient unicompartmental knee replacements to examine the difference in outcomes and cost.
Study authors gathered data from the National Surgical Quality Improvement Program database for patients who underwent unicompartmental knee replacements from 2005 to 2015. There were 568 outpatient and 5,312 inpatient procedures recorded in the database.
Study authors found there weren't significant differences in perioperative complications or postdischarge complications between the two groups. The rate of 30-day readmissions was similar for both inpatient and outpatient procedures.
"Based on the perioperative outcome measures assessed in this study, outpatient UKA can be appropriately considered in carefully selected patients based on the lack of difference in rates of 30-day perioperative complications and readmissions between the outpatient and matched inpatient groups," concluded the study authors.