Prospective Evaluation of Vitagel for Reduction in Blood Loss and Pain Following Unilateral Total Knee Arthroplasty

Detailed Summary

Vitagel® is an FDA approved class III medical device. It is a surgical hemostat, which has been shown to control bleeding during orthopaedic, cardiac, hepatic, and general surgical procedures. The product is a thrombin/collagen suspension which works in combination with the patient's own plasma to form a fibrin/collagen clot. The present prospective, randomized controlled trial is designed to evaluate the efficacy of Vitagel® for reducing blood loss and pain in patients managed with unilateral total knee arthroplasty (TKA). It is hypothesized that the use of Vitagel® may lead to less blood filled knees, and thus to a greater improvement in postoperative pain scores when compared to the control group. The two arms of the study will include: 1. experimental group in which Vitagel® is used unilateral TKA 2. control group representing our current standard of care (no Vitagel®) A comparison of the functional and clinical results between these two groups will be conducted using several outcome measures including the KOOS, SF-12 version2 and pain scores through the previously IRB approved OrthoMidas registry. The primary variable of interest is blood loss, based on hemoglobin drop during the postoperative hospital stay. Of secondary interest will be; 1) pain levels in the PACU, 2) pain scores for all postoperative days, 3) average pain for the entire hospital stay, 4) length of stay, 5) patient satisfaction at discharge, 4 weeks postoperative, and 12 weeks postoperative, and 6) functional scores at 4 and 12 weeks postoperative.

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