A new score assessing the surgical wound of a TKA and its relation with pain, infection and functional outcome

Intra-osseous pin sites used in Computer Navigated knee Arthroplasty are known to cause complications including infection, neurovascular The aim of this study was to describe a new score to evaluate the clinical aspect of the TKA surgical wound and to correlate it with postoperative pain, infection and functional outcome at 1 year of follow-up. This score, ranging from 0 to 10, assessed 5 parameters; swelling, haematoma, erythema, blood drainage and blisters. One hundred fifty-nine consecutive TKA were prospectively evaluated. Intra and inter-rate reliability was superior to 0.9. No differences were obtained comparing the aspect of the surgical wound with postoperative pain or functional outcomes. Incidence of deep infection is directly related with an increased score (p = 0.0025).