The early detection of deep infection is very important for the total knee replacement because post-TKR infection afford disastrous results.
The C-reactive protein is widely used as a marker for detection of postoperative infection. But there were few papers about C-reactive protein levels after total joint replacenment, especially after total knee relacement respect to its value.
We analzysed the change of C-reactive protein value after total knee replacement in osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis, performed from April, 1993 to Dec. 1995.
@ES The results are follows:
@EN 1. In OA, pstoperative maximum C-reactive protein values were reached in 3 day-after surgery. The C-reactive protein values were decreased fastly and then, the values were consistently normalized nearly 2 weeks after the operation.
2. The C-reactive protein levels in RA were higher than in OA before the operation. The values were restored to pre-operative level in nearly 1 week after operation.
3. The peak level of C-reactive protein was usually reached on the third day after the opeation. The incidence of high value in C-reactive protein, above 10 mg/dl, was more frequent in OA than in RA.
4. The bone cement gives no effect on c-reactive protein values in OA and RA.
We think that this results will be helpful for early detection of infection after total knee replacement.
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