Knee replacement and the use of tourniquet is a tradition in orthopaedic surgery, that is currently being questioned. Certainly when I attended the Current Concepts meeting in Orlando – it was a hot topic of debate. The literature is poor and many meta-analyses have tried to answer the question – is performing knee replacement without tourniquet advantageous? My reading of the literature suggests there may be benefits in terms of limiting post-operative bruising and pain – so I have changed to performing my surgery without tourniquet.
