Cerebral Fat Embolism after Bilateral Total Knee Replacement Arthroplasty
Seung Min Han, MD, Kyeongyeol Cheon, MD, Joong Hyeon Park, MD, Jeong Yeon Kim, MD, PhD,Jong Sam Baik, MD, PhD, and Jae Hyeon Park, MD, PhD
Department of Neurology, Sanggye Paik Hospital, Inje University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea
ABSTRACT
Background: While fat embolism syndrome (FES) is an uncommon, it rarely occurs after elective orthopedic surgery. The incidence of cerebral FES occurring after simultaneous bilateral total knee replacement (TKR) is low. Case Report: A 74-year old woman visited emergency department due to stupor mentality. She was diagnosed with degenerative osteoarthritis of bilateral knees and total knee placement arthroplasty was done. Six hours after surgery, the patient fell into a stupurous mentality with decreased oxygen saturation level. Diffusion weighted MR showed several bilateral small high signal intensity lesions in the cerebral subcortices and cortices, suggesting fat embolism. Conclusions: We report a patient of cerebral FES following bilateral TKR. Cerebral FES should be considered, although rare, in patients who present with neurologic impairment after TKR.
PDF Links
Full text via DOI 
Download Citation 
