Long-term results of total joint arthroplasty in elderly patients who are frail.

Many studies of joint replacement in the aged population include a wide spectrum of geriatric patients ranging from relative healthy and otherwise vigorous younger-elderly to small numbers of much older patients with many comorbid problems. To clarify the latter patient subset we assessed the results of total hip and knee arthroplasties done on a group of frail elderly patients. We retrospectively reviewed the preoperative and postoperative charts and radiographs of 130 patients who were at least 80 years when they had a total joint arthroplasty.