Acute arterial thrombosis after bilateral total knee arthroplasty.

Arterial thrombosis is a rare complication of total knee arthroplasty (TKA). The overall incidence of arterial complications after TKA, including arterial occlusion, arteriovenous fistula, arterial aneurysm, and arterial severance, varies between 0.03% and 0.17% in reports published in the orthopedic literature (J Vasc Surg 1994;20:927-932). We report a case of acute popliteal artery thrombosis and its sequelae immediately following bilateral TKA performed sequentially under the same anesthesia. This is the first reported case of a post-TKA popliteal artery thrombosis in a patient younger than 60 years without the commonly accepted risk factors.