Statement from Sharp HealthCare public relations spokesman John Cihomsky:
Sharp-affiliated surgeons typically favor performing two separate surgeries over SBTKA because doing
the procedure simultaneously poses greater recovery challenges for patients, clinically. As you referenced
in your email, patients can experience complications as a result of total knee surgery, or any procedure,
and SBTKA only increases those chances. The most concerning complications are medical, not orthopedic,
as patients will experience longer anesthesia times and be at risk for increased cardiopulmonary issues,
to name a few. Reducing risk to the patient is the sole reason Sharp-affiliated surgeons favor and
recommend operating on one knee at a time in most cases. In calendar year 2018, just 1.1 percent of
total knee procedures done at Sharp were SBTKA, and 1 percent in 2017.