What is the most common complication after surgery in a patient with rheumatoid arthritis?

What is the most common complication after surgery in a patient with rheumatoid arthritis?

• A. Delayed wound healing
• B. Infection at the surgical site
• C. Deep vein thrombosis
• D. Hardware loosening

Answer: (A)

In rheumatoid arthritis, healing after surgery is often slowed because chronic inflammation and the medications used to control the disease blunt tissue repair. Glucocorticoids and disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs can impair collagen synthesis and the inflammatory processes needed to seal and repair a surgical wound, so wounds tend to heal more slowly. This combination makes delayed wound healing the most common postoperative complication in RA patients.

Infection at the surgical site and deep vein thrombosis are important concerns, especially with immunosuppression and perioperative risk, but they tend to occur less frequently than delayed wound healing in this context. Hardware loosening can happen, particularly with poor bone quality, but it is not as common as healing delays.