Erratum

ABSTRACT: In the article "Thromboembolic Disease in Patients Undergoing Total Knee Replacement", by Rajalaxmi McKenna, M.D., Fedor Bachmann, M.D., Satya P. Kaushal, M.D., and Jorge O. Galante, M.D., published in The Journal, Vol. 58-A: 928-932, October 1976, the Abstract and the first paragraph under Results were in error. They should read as follows:

In a prospective study of the incidence of deep-vein thrombosis in thirty patients undergoing total knee replacement, all patients had clinical examinations and ¹²⁵I fibrinogen scanning, while those suspected of having deep venous thrombosis also had confirmatory venography. Fourteen (47 per cent) of thirty patients had thromboembolic disease. Of these, nine had thrombi only in the limb operated on; four had bilateral deep venous thrombi; and one had clinically severe pulmonary embolism as the initial manifestation of thromboembolic disease. Two of the thirteen patients with documented peripheral deep-vein thrombosis also had clinically symptomatic pulmonary embolism at a later date. In nine patients who took aspirin regularly the incidence of thromboembolism was 11 per cent, while in the eight who did not take aspirin or any other antiplatelet drug the incidence was 88 per cent, a difference that was highly significant (p = 0.003).

Results

Two of the thirty-two patients who had positive ¹²⁵I fibrinogen scans did not have venography and were therefore excluded from the final evaluation, leaving twenty-six women and four men. The mean age of the fourteen patients with thromboembolic disease was sixty-seven years (range, forty-eight to seventy-seven), while the mean age of the sixteen patients without thromboembolic disease was sixty-four years (range, forty-seven to seventy-seven). Of the fourteen patients with thromboembolism, nine had thrombosis of the deep veins in the calf of the limb operated on, four had bilateral involvement of these veins, and one (too ill to have venography) had only pulmonary embolism as the initial manifestation of thromboembolic disease. Of the thirteen patients with proved deep-vein thrombosis, two subsequently had pulmonary embolism. In the three patients with pulmonary embolism, the diagnosis was made on the basis of the clinical findings, negative chest roentgenograms, and perfusion defects demonstrated by lung scan. It is of special interest that all of the thromboses were located in the calf veins and that only one of them extended proximally into the popliteal and femoral veins. Also of interest is the fact that no thromboses were demonstrated only in the limb that was not operated on.

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