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Risks of Surgery

All surgery has risks:

Your orthopaedic surgeon (def.) also will discuss the specific risks associated with your procedure and recovery. The risks of orthopaedic surgery depend on your health before surgery and the type of surgery done.
Your anesthesiologist will discuss the risk associated with the use of anesthesia during your procedure.

Some of the things that may be discussed include:

Bleeding or other problems during the procedure.
Damage to joint tissues or nerves around the joint
How your individual weight, activity level, age and other factors may affect your outcome.

Possible postsurgical complications include:

infection
excessive swelling or bleeding
joint stiffness
blood clots in the leg veins (thrombophlebitis)
leakage of blood into the joint (hemarthrosis)
blood clots that travel to the lung (pulmonary embolus).