J Korean Orthop Assoc.  2015 Feb;50(1):55-59. 10.4055/jkoa.2015.50.1.55.

Compartment Syndrome of the Thigh Following Manipulation to Treat Knee Stiffness after Total Knee Arthroplasty

• Lee JH
• Wang SI

• KMID: 2106739
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.4055/jkoa.2015.50.1.55

Abstract

A 67-year-old man developed compartment syndrome of the thigh following manipulation for treatment of knee stiffness after a total knee arthroplasty. Three months earlier, he had undergone arthroscopic synovectomies twice for treatment of septic arthritis in the same leg. Manipulation for treatment of stiffness concomitant with periarticular inflammation is a possible risk factor of compartment syndrome.

Keyword

knee; arthroplasty; stiffness; manipulation; compartment syndromes

MeSH Terms

Aged
Arthritis, Infectious
Arthroplasty*
Compartment Syndromes*
Humans
Inflammation
Knee*
Leg
Risk Factors
Thigh*

Figure

• 

  Figure 1 (A) Preoperative radiograph of the patient showing a primary rightside osteoarthritis. Three months earlier arthroscopic synovectomies had been performed twice. (B) In both 2- and 4-hours delayed inflammation scan images (Tc-99m hexamethylpropyleneamine oxime white blood cell [WBC]), WBC accumulation within the right knee soft tissue was observed.

• 

  Figure 2 Postoperative radiograph of the patient showing a primary right-side total knee arthroplasty.

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  Figure 3 Magnetic resonance imaging of the knee revealed a 10×8×10 cm fluid collection site, spread over the mid-thigh vastus intermedius, vastus medialis, and vastus lateralis, connecting to the right knee joint.

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