Abstract:To compare the application effect of tourniquet in different periods of total knee arthroplasty. Methods Totally 78 cases undergoing total knee arthroplasty from June 2015 to December 2016 were randomly selected and divided into groups A, B and C. Tourniquet was used in the 3 different periods of the operation in the 3 groups respectively. In the group A tourniquet was used during the whole process of operation. In the group B, the use of tourniquet was restricted to the time from the start of prosthesis installation to the successful placement of the knee prosthesis and the hardening of cement. In the group C, tourniquet usage was started just after osteotomy, and ended after pressure bandaging. The effect of arthroplasty was compared among the 3 groups and the indexes of recovery were analyzed. Results After SPSS 10.0 analysis, the 3 groups had no significant difference in the operation time, the amount of perioperative bleeding or the case number of blood transfusion (p > 0.05), while the group B had a lower amount of invisible bleeding, a lower rate of postoperative complications and shorter time of hospital stay (p < 0.05), which led to better HSS and ROM scores and indexes of soft tissue injury ( p< 0.05).Conclusions Using tourniquet only during the procedure of implanting prosthesis can significantly reduce the amount of invisible bleeding and the incidences of postoperative complications, and relieve the tissue swelling, which can be helpful to the recovery.