Fall-prevention strategies and patient characteristics that impact fall rates after total knee arthroplasty.

Background: Fall prevention has emerged as a national quality metric, a focus for The Joint Commission, because falls after orthopedic surgery can result in serious injury. In this study, we examined patient characteristics and effects of fall-prevention strategies on the incidence of postoperative falls in patients undergoing total knee arthroplasty.

Methods: We reviewed electronic records of all patients who fell after total knee arthroplasty between 2003 and 2012 (10 years).

Postsurgical inflammatory neuropathy.

Objective: Perioperative nerve injuries are devastating complications that are commonly attributed to a variety of patient, surgical, or anesthetic factors. Well-documented causes of postsurgical neuropathy include nerve compression, stretch, contusion, or transection, which can occur following surgical trauma or patient positioning. Potential anesthetic causes of perioperative nerve injury include mechanical trauma, local anesthetic toxicity, and ischemic injury.