TURKISH JOURNAL OF PHYSIOTHERAPY REHABILITATION-TURK FIZYOTERAPI VE REHABILITASYON DERGISI, cilt.33, sa.3, ss.146-153, 2022 (ESCI)
Purpose: Serum cytokines were associated with symptoms and progression of osteoarthritis. It is unknown whether these cytokines have a predictive role on the severity of symptoms after total knee arthroplasty (TKA) or not. This study was performed to investigate the effect of preoperative Serum Cytokine Levels (SCL) on length of stay in hospital (LOS), postoperative pain intensity, functional status, joint position sense, and change in X-ray. Methods: Twenty-nine patients with Grade 4 osteoarthritis degeneration level were included in the study. SCL (IL-6, TNF-alpha, IL-1beta) were assessed before surgery. Pain intensity at rest/activity and lower limb alignment were evaluated preoperative, postoperative 72nd hour and 6th week. Functional status and joint position sense were assessed before surgery and 6 weeks after surgery. Length of stay in hospital was also recorded. Results: The mean age of the participants was 67.55 +/- 6.55 years. The length of stay in the hospital mean was 6.48 +/- 3.06 day (min:3, max:16 days). Preoperative IL-6 and TNF-alpha level negatively correlated with functional status in the 6th week after surgery (r=0.46; p=0.01, r=0.39; p=0.03). Also, there was a positive correlation between preoperative TNF-alpha and the lower limb alignment at the 6th week after surgery (r=0.39; p=0.04). Conclusion: Patients with osteoarthritis who had lower preoperative IL-6 and TNF-alpha levels had better functional status and better lower limb alignment in the postoperative period. So in order to decide TKA surgery timing, primarily decreasing SCL might be caused better biomechanical development after surgery. Preoperative SCL was not directly related to the length of stay in the hospital.