CORR Insights^®: Risk of Post-TKA Acute Myocardial Infarction in Patients With a History of Myocardial Infarction or Coronary Stent

Excerpt

As the demands for healthcare services have increased, and the applicable resources have become more expensive and/or scarce, risk stratification has evolved into a critical strategy for optimal patient management, as well as a tactic for forecasting a patient’s chances of success or complications during an episode of care. Utilizing detailed checklists of comorbidities and socioeconomic status, stakeholder organizations such as the American College of Cardiology, the American College of Surgeons National Surgical Quality Improvement Program, and the American Joint Replacement Registry have produced guidelines or calculators that help define statistical ranges of risk for various complications and poor outcomes after surgery for patients with similar characteristics [1, 2, 4]. These tools have assisted surgeons in the informed consent process, and also in their decision making as to when and if to recommend surgery. A weakness in the current risk-stratification methodologies is the relative lack of accuracy and specificity in predicting complications and readmissions for any given patient [3]. …