AAHKS & ACR Release New Guideline Summary

AAHKS and the American College of Rheumatology (ACR) have released a summary of our new guideline, titled “the Optimal Timing of Elective Hip or Knee Arthroplasty for Patients with Symptomatic Moderate to Severe Osteoarthritis or Osteonecrosis Who Have Failed Nonoperative Therapy.” The ACR and AAHKS have worked together before, creating guidelines for Perioperative Management of Antirheumatic Medication in Patients with Rheumatic Diseases Undergoing Elective THA/TKA in 2017 and 2022. While those guidelines focus on medications to take or withhold prior to hip or knee arthroplasty for patients with rheumatic diseases, this new guideline focuses on the timing of hip and knee arthroplasty, and when additional nonoperative treatment or delays for medical optimization are appropriate for patients with advanced osteoarthritis and osteonecrosis who have failed nonoperative therapy. All the recommendations in the guideline are conditional. While there are no strong recommendations, there was high consensus for all recommendations. A full manuscript of the guideline has been submitted for journal peer review and is anticipated to be jointly published in ACR and AAHKS journals in 2023.