Background: Total knee replacement (TKR) is increasingly performed in short term hospital stay, making same day mobilization an important issue is after surgery. This implies little joint effusion by reducing intra-articular blood loss, which will enhance knee range of motion. The application of a topical fibrin sealant on the intraoperative bare bone and synovial tissue may contribute to better early full mobilization and thus improved functional outcomes. Since ambulation with a fully extended knee is less strenuous, we hypothesized that patients who received fibrin sealant would demonstrate improved early knee extension after six weeks compared to patients who received standard care.

Methods: A multicenter randomized controlled trial in a consecutive series of osteoarthritis patients scheduled for TKR surgery. Participants were randomized to receive fibrin sealant or not before closing the knee joint capsule. Primary outcome was change in knee extension angle(°) at short term (2 weeks) follow-up (cExt). Secondary outcomes were 6-week extension angle, knee flexion angle, hemoglobin loss, blood transfusion rates, complication rates, the Knee Society Score, and the KOOS and EQ5D questionnaires.

Results: When data on primary outcome became available from 250 patients, an interim analysis was performed by an independent Data Safety Monitoring Board for safety and effectivity assessment. This analysis showed that sufficient patients were included to detect a cExt of 10° between both groups. Inclusion was stopped however, all in the meantime included patients were treated according to their randomization. A total of 466 were available for analysis. Both groups were comparable in terms of baseline characteristics. The estimated mean cExt difference was 0.2° (95%CI -0.5 to 0.9). No differences in secondary outcomes were found.

Conclusions: No beneficial effects or side effects were found of a topically applied fibrin sealant during TKR surgery. These results discourage the clinical use of a fibrin sealant in TKR.

Trial registration: Dutch Trial Register, NTR2500.