Background: It has been suggested that perioperative use of biological disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs (bDMARDs) in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients carries risks for the surgical-site infection and the delayed wound healing (DWH); however, the risk of DWH with perioperative use of bDMARDs has not reached a general consensus.

Objectives: This retrospective study aimed to investigate the risk factors associated with DWH after orthopedic surgery in RA patients treated with bDMARDs.

Methods: We reviewed medical records of 277 orthopedic procedures for 188 RA patients treated with bDMARDs between from 2014 to 2017 in Niigata Rheumatic Center. As preoperative nutritional status assessment, we evaluated body mass index (BMI), prognostic nutritional index (PNI), and CONtrolling NUTritional status (CONUT). In addition, we evaluated DAS28-CRP, DAS28-ESR, face scale for pain, global health (GH), and Health Assessment Questionnaire-Disability Index (HAQ-DI) to assess the disease activity. Univariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses were performed to evaluate the risk factor for DWH.

Results: The major characteristics of the patients in 277 procedures were mean age of 63.2 years old and mean disease duration of 18.2 years. Surgical site were hand and wrist (145 procedures), foot and ankle (76), hip and knee (31), elbow and shoulder (24), and spine (1). Seventy-four patients were treated with tocilizumab, 62 with etanercept, 55 with golimumab, 49 with abatacept, 16 with infliximab, 15 with adalimumab, and 6 with certolizumab. According to nutritional assessment in PNI and CONUT, 63% (n=175) and 47% (n=130) were normal nourished patients, respectively.

In 277 procedures, DWH were identified in 24 patients (8.6%). The following variables were significant in the univariate analyses: disease duration (OR 1.053; 95% CI 1.010–1.099; p=0.016), foot and ankle surgery (OR 7.091; 95% CI 2.130–23.603; p=0.001), tocilizumab (OR 0.286; 95% CI 0.093–0.881; p=0.029) (Table 1). These variables were entered into a multivariate model, and it was revealed that pre-operative use of tocilizumab (OR 0.265; 95% CI 0.074–0.953; p=0.042) and procedures in the foot and ankle (OR 6.915; 95% CI 1.914–24.976; p=0.003) were associated with an increased risk of DWH (Table 1).

Conclusion: As previous study on tocilizumab described, the current retrospective study suggested that pre-operative use of tocilizumab and procedures in the foot and ankle were risk factors for DWH. Pre-operative disease activity and nutritional status were not independent risk factors for an increase in the prevalence of DWH.

REFERENCES:

[1] Momohara S, Hashimoto J, Tsuboi H et al. Analysis of perioperative clinical features and complications after orthopaedic surgery in rheumatoid arthritis patients treated with tocilizumab in a real-world setting: Results from the multicentre tocilizumab in perioperative period (TOPP) study. Modern rheumatology. 2013, 23: 440-9.

Disclosure of Interests: Shunji Okita: None declared, Hajime Ishikawa: None declared, Asami Abe: None declared, Satoshi Ito Speakers bureau: Abbvie,Eisai, Akira Murasawa: None declared, Keiichiro Nishida Grant/research support from: K. Nishida has received scholarship donation from CHUGAI PHARMACEUTICAL Co., Eisai Co., Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma and AbbVie GK., Speakers bureau: K. Nishida has received speaking fees from CHUGAI PHARMACEUTICAL Co., Eli Lilly, Janssen Pharmaceutical K.K., Eisai Co. and AYUMI Pharmaceutical Corporation., Toshifumi Ozaki: None declared