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Cancer after Total Joint Arthroplasty: A Meta-analysis

¹ Center for Evaluative Clinical Sciences, and Departments of ² Medicine and ³ Community and Family Medicine, Dartmouth Medical School, Hanover, New Hampshire

Requests for reprints: John A. Baron, Departments of Medicine and Community and Family Medicine, Biostatistics and Epidemiology, Dartmouth Medical School, Evergreen Center, Suite 300, 46 Centerra Parkway, Lebanon, NH 03756. Phone: 603-650-3456; Fax: 603-650-3473. E-mail: John.A.Baron{at}dartmouth.edu

Background: Some epidemiologic and laboratory studies have suggested that total joint arthroplasty could increase the risk of cancer. In this meta-analysis, we attempt to clarify the association of joint arthroplasty with subsequent cancer incidence.

Methods: We identified population-based studies reporting standardized incidence ratios (SIR) for cancer following large joint arthroplasty. After summing the observed and expected numbers of cases across all qualifying studies, we calculated SIRs for all cancers, and for those at 28 anatomic sites. Latency analysis involving 175,166 patients characterized short-term and long-term cancer associations.

Results: The analyses included 1,435,356 person-years of follow-up and 20,045 cases of cancer. Overall cancer risk among patients with arthroplasty was equal to that for the general population. The relative risk of lung cancer, reduced in the first 5 years after arthroplasty, increased significantly over time to approach that of the general population. Risks for all sites in the luminal gastrointestinal tract were significantly reduced by 10% to 20%; with relative risks that were generally stable over time. Increased risks were seen for cancer of the prostate (SIR, 1.12; 95% confidence interval, 1.08-1.16); similar relative risks were seen in each time period after the procedure. For melanoma, relative risks increased with follow-up to a SIR of 1.43 (95% confidence interval, 1.13-1.79) for 10 or more years after arthroplasty. There was a similar delayed emergence of increased risks for cancers of the urinary tract and oropharynx. The relative risk for bone cancer decreased with time after the procedure.

Conclusions: There does not seem to be an overall increased risk of cancer following total joint arthroplasty. Although the risks of prostate cancer and melanoma seem to be elevated, there is no obvious mechanism for these associations. Reductions in risk for some malignancies may not be causal. (Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2006;15(8):1532–7)

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