Registration of arthroplasties in Finland. A nationwide prospective project.

Data on hip and knee arthroplasties have been compiled on a nationwide basis in Finland since 1980. Forty-five major departments contribute to the study providing data on the type of operation, the implant used, the diagnosis, and the 1-year clinical results. In the case of revision, new data are sent to the register, enabling survivorship analysis. Between 1980 and 1988, 25,966 operations were reported. Fifty-six percent had been made for primary osteoarthrosis, 22 percent for rheumatoid arthritis, 6.3 percent for secondary arthrosis, and 0.5 percent for CDH. In 1988, the total number of arthroplasties was 4,628: about two thirds hip and one third knee replacements. The annual incidence of primary total hip arthroplasties in 1988 was 58 per 100,000 inhabitants and that for the knees 25 per 100,000 inhabitants. More than 40 percent of the patients were under 65 years of age. In the whole series, primary thromboembolic complications occurred in 1.4 percent, luxations in 1.4 percent, infection in 0.9 percent, and evacuated hematoma in 0.6 percent. The annual frequency of re-arthroplasty increased between 1980 and 1988 from 9.8 to 13.6 percent, indicating an increasing orthopedic work load in the future.