TKR Knee pain after a year post-op

Nana10

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TKR last year and I did fantastic as soon as I reached 1 year post-op I started with pain and swelling, pretty bad pain. So far I have had blood test for infection which came back negative then I had a bone scan that just showed the inflammation. There is no explanation for the pain and inflammation which is really affecting my life in a horrible way. Anyone experience this same thing?
 
I wonder why you didn't have your knee aspirated. Synovial fluid analysis is helpful for determining if there is an infection or not.
 
I am going to tag @Josephine, our forum director and nurse to address your questions.
 
An aspiration was discussed but since my blood work came back normal they decided to do the bone scan and that showed inflammation and they left it at that. They gave me another NSAID but it is not working. I am concerned they are missing something.
 
I'd message, or call, your doctor with your concerns, and let him know the med isn't helping and see what he says. Sometimes we need to give our doctors a little push, sometimes we need to give them a little time and see what develops. But if you've already been seen and the treatment he prescribed isn't helping, then I'd give him a heads up about it.
 
I think they should do the aspiration.

Let me tell you this - when I got pain in my left knee, my surgeon first did bloods for infection which were clear, then he did a bone scan which, like you, showed flares around one of the implants. On a bone scan, this just indicates some cellular activity but not what's causing it. It could be a loosening or an infection. The only way to be thorough about this is to get fluid from the joint which my chap did. In fact, he aspirated both knees on a 'better be safe than sorry' basis. I was lucky, the synovial fluid was clear of infection so then we knew it was a loosening and I'm waiting to have a revision.

I cannot emphasise this strongly enough - you need to have your knee aspirated to confirm or refute the negative result of the blood test which only shows, as it were, one side of the coin.
 
Thank you all so much for the advice
 
I'll be watching for your updates and sending you best wishes.
 

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