1. < Joint Replacements
Profile picture for pirate1

Knee replacement swollen and blood filled 8 months later

Posted by pirate1 @pirate1, Feb 4, 2025

My mother-in-law had total knee replacement in early June. She has had persistant swelling and significant pain that has not improved even 8 months later. She has had blood drawn off twice, but it returns. A CT scan showed no bleeding, blood was tested and no issues, x-rays show everything is good. We met with dr today and he feels that there is an infection as she tests a minute over the normal range. He feels that she needs to undergo the replacement surgery with a temporary and then later with the final replacement. My worry is that this might not even be an infection as there is really no clear indication that it is. I really don't want her to go through the surgery again if possible, any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. We are getting a 2nd opinion on Monday.

Interested in more discussions like this? Go to the Joint Replacements Support Group.

Profile picture for bsissko
bsissko | @bsissko | Feb 10 9:33am
In reply to @skshapiro "I am sorry if you gave an answer to this but what is a GAE? Also..." + (show)
Profile picture for skshapiro @skshapiro

I am sorry if you gave an answer to this but what is a GAE? Also I have had swelling in my knee after TKR IN 23. IT IS NOT BLOOD BUT FLUID and does GAE work for nonblood fluid issued

Jump to this post

@skshapiro
Hi, you've probably gotten you answer to this by now, but if not... GAE is Genicular Artery Embolization. Its used to help minimize bleeding into a joint. In the case of the knee, a catheter is used to go thru the Femoral artery into the genicular arteries and deposit tiny "emboli" into the respective blood vessels to virtually clog them - keeping them from bleeding into the knee joint.

It would not be used for anything other than bleeding issues.

Hope you are doing better !

REPLY
Profile picture for leebee26
leebee26 | @leebee26 | Feb 11 4:49pm
In reply to @bjw1948 "@leebee26 I read a report written by the National Institute of Health and it followed people..." + (show)
Profile picture for bjw1948 @bjw1948

@leebee26
I read a report written by the National Institute of Health and it followed people who had knee replacements, for 10 years. In that time only 13 developed recurrent hema arthrosis. All were treated with genicular artery embolization, GAE. 12 found relief and one died of other causes. My first GAE was partially successful at 75% relief but second GAE made no improvement. Will have another arthroscopic surgery in March. Doctor says 50/50 chance of pain relief.

Jump to this post

@bjw1948 Appreciate your reply. Best Wishes for procedure in March. Keeping positive you'll be one of the successes. Cheers

REPLY
Profile picture for leebee26
leebee26 | @leebee26 | Feb 11 5:34pm
In reply to @bsissko "@leebee26 I'm sorry if this is a duplicate, I thought I had replied last evening using..." + (show)
Profile picture for bsissko @bsissko

@leebee26
I'm sorry if this is a duplicate, I thought I had replied last evening using my phone, but I'm not seeing my response...
I'm in the USA, (Maryland). I'm almost one year removed from my revision, and about 6 months removed from GAE#2. I'm doing well, no bleeding and knee getting stronger every day. I'm back playing pickleball - I feel i'm at about 80% of where I was prior to all the bleeding issues and revision. Some of that is still physical, and some of that is probably in my head trying to protect my knee!

As far as having both knees end up with the same rare bleeding issues, my uneducated reasoning is that I'm not too surprised. We all heal differently and our bodies respond to the implant/trauma differently. Some of our bodies respond by developing new blood vessels more than others - which in turn end up potentially bleeding. Having it happen in both knees of the same person actually seems somewhat logical (to me). I'm not long before needing my other knee replaced, and I won't be surprised if I ultimately end up dealing with this again in that knee down the road.
Frankly, its not unusual for the GAE to need to be repeated in another year or two or three in the same knee due to new blood vessels redeveloping in that knee.

Good Luck to Hubby!

Jump to this post

@bsissko your information is very helpful to us. Hubby's TKR surgeon of many years had never come across the bleeding before and IR were keen to play as unusual for them. Your explanation definitely makes sense and has us more prepared moving fwd. Also being aware knowing hubby may need a repeat in following years. Hope not. Really messing his mental state at present with restrictions also being very active and sporty.
Thank you for sharing where you are located. Grateful we can share and compare.
Best Wishes in your loved sport of pickleball to 100%. Yet to trial but is a growing sport here in Aus.
Your a bit of a legend participating if needing other TKR. 👍👏🙏

REPLY
1 reply
Profile picture for bsissko
bsissko | @bsissko | Feb 11 6:44pm
In reply to @leebee26 "@bsissko your information is very helpful to us. Hubby's TKR surgeon of many years had never..." + (show)
Profile picture for leebee26 @leebee26

@bsissko your information is very helpful to us. Hubby's TKR surgeon of many years had never come across the bleeding before and IR were keen to play as unusual for them. Your explanation definitely makes sense and has us more prepared moving fwd. Also being aware knowing hubby may need a repeat in following years. Hope not. Really messing his mental state at present with restrictions also being very active and sporty.
Thank you for sharing where you are located. Grateful we can share and compare.
Best Wishes in your loved sport of pickleball to 100%. Yet to trial but is a growing sport here in Aus.
Your a bit of a legend participating if needing other TKR. 👍👏🙏

Jump to this post

@leebee26
I totally understand the helpless feeling when everyone talks about how rare it is. I initially delt with the bleeding for about 3 months - it felt like every time i stepped the wrong way my knee would blow up - I could feel it filling up with blood - I'd say to my husband, there goes my knee again and within about 3-5 minutes I couldn't bear any weight on it. I've been active all my life playing sports and was a firefighter for 27 years, being sidelined like that, especially with no known outcome was pretty depressing. Now that the GAE has worked for me, I feel confident that when/if the bleeding develops again, I won't waste any time and get myself scheduled for another one. It stinks to have to do that, but at least the procedure is pretty simple and a reasonable recovery. I do believe once you are susceptible to the production of excess blood vessels, its likely to happen again. So yes, it does help to prepare and ease the mind a little bit!
As far as pickleball, its a life saver!! very satisfying and very addicting!! you should definitely give it a try!!

REPLY
View MoreView Less
Please sign in or register to post a reply.