The evaluation of the effectiveness of cryotherapy after a knee replacement in the early postoperative period. Systematic review

A literature review of the clinical efficacy of various methods of local cryotherapy after knee endoprosthesis in the early postoperative period is presented. A literature search using the keywords “cryotherapy” and “knee arthroplasty” was conducted in the databases Medline.Ru, CyberLeninka, E-Library, PubMed, and Cochrane. The search date was January 7, 2023. The review included studies that assessed the effectiveness of cryotherapy after knee replacement in the early postoperative period. After electronic search, 562 abstracts were found, and 16 studies were included in the review. Although the patients had similar characteristics, significant heterogeneity was noted in the studies according to cryotherapy modality, duration, and frequency of cold exposure. This may have been the reason for the contradictory results of the review. It is challenging to draw a clear conclusion on the advantages and disadvantages of using cryotherapy after knee replacement. Thus, high-quality studies should examine the effectiveness of cryotherapy.