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World J Orthop. Feb 18, 2019; 10(2): 63-70
Published online Feb 18, 2019. doi: 10.5312/wjo.v10.i2.63
Allergy in total knee replacement surgery: Is it a real problem?
Maristella F Saccomanno, Giuseppe Sircana, Giulia Masci, Gianpiero Cazzato, Michela Florio, Luigi Capasso, Marco Passiatore, Giovanni Autore, Giulio Maccauro, Enrico Pola
Maristella F Saccomanno, Giuseppe Sircana, Giulia Masci, Gianpiero Cazzato, Michela Florio, Luigi Capasso, Marco Passiatore, Giovanni Autore, Giulio Maccauro, Enrico Pola, Department of Orthopaedics and Traumatology, Fondazione Policlinico Universitario A. Gemelli IRCCS, Rome 00168, Italy
Author contributions: All authors contributed equally to this paper with conception and design of the study, literature review and analysis, drafting, critical revision and editing of the manuscript, and in giving approval of the final version.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors have no conflicts of interest to disclose.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Enrico Pola, MD, PhD, Associate Professor, Department of Orthopaedics and Traumatology, Fondazione Policlinico Universitario A. Gemelli IRCCS, L.go Agostino Gemelli, 8, Rome 00168, Italy. enrico.pola@tiscali.it
Telephone: +39-06-30154326 Fax: +39-06-3051161
Received: October 7, 2018
Peer-review started: October 7, 2018
First decision: October 19, 2018
Revised: December 26, 2018
Accepted: January 5, 2019
Article in press: January 6, 2019
Published online: February 18, 2019
Core Tip

Core tip: Metal hypersensitivity may be a cause of failure for total knee arthroplasty, although a clear correlation between metal sensitization and symptomatic knee after surgery has not been ascertained. Patients with a clear history of metal allergy, must be carefully examined through dermatological and laboratory testing before surgery. However, despite the increase in cutaneous and systemic hypersensitivity reactions to metals, which raise concern about joint arthroplasties, allergies against implant materials remain quite rare and an unexplored issue.