Arthroplasty Practice in a Resource-Limited Setting: Indications, Nutritional Profile of Patients and Evolution in a Consecutive 2-Year Series

Background and objective: Total hip and knee arthroplasty is a common elective surgery that significantly improves patients’ quality of life. The objective was to describe the clinical and evolutionary aspects of patients treated by arthroplasty in two hospitals in Kinshasa, DRC. Methods: Cross-sectional descriptive study (2018 to 2022). A total of 75 patients who underwent hip or knee arthroplasty were selected. Sociodemographic, clinical, therapeutic and evolutionary data were analyzed. Results: The mean age was 57.8 ± 13.7 years with a female predominance (sex-ratio F/M = 1.3). 42 patients were obese. Patients with coxarthrosis and gonarthrosis were more obese (p < 0.05). While aseptic necrosis of the femoral head was found more in the group of non-obese patients (p = 0.041). Anesthetic incidents (6) were noted in the obese including 3 cases of failure, 1 case of respiratory distress and 1 case of hypotension. Out of a total of 75 patients, we noted 32 cases of complications (42.7%) including one intraoperative complication (trochanteric fracture), two postoperative dislocations and two late postoperative deaths. Conclusion: The indications for arthroplasty in this study are dominated by non-traumatic pathologies of the knee and of the hip (osteoarthritis and aseptic necrosis). Most patients are overweight, including obesity. The evolution is favorable in the vast majority of cases.