Total Knee Replacement
Knee Replacement Surgery is a surgical procedure in which the weight-bearing, damaged surfaces of the knee joint are replaced with a specially designed artificial joint.
This surgical operation, which was first performed in the 1960s, is also commonly referred to as ‘Knee Arthroplasty’. With today's technology and knowledge, it is among the most frequently performed and effective surgeries in the world. It is most commonly used to treat the degenerative joint disease known as osteoarthritis in a relatively old patient population. It helps patients to return to near-normal life by easing pain and restoring mobility.
Knee replacement surgery is an open surgical procedure. It can be performed under general or regional anesthesia The choice of anesthesia depends fundamentally on your medical condition which will be investigated before the operation. However, if your medical status permits you can choose the anesthesia type for your operation. After the administration of anesthesia, a sterile area is created in the surgical area and draped. The knee joint is exposed with an anterior midline incision of about 15 to 20 centimeters. Depending on the surgeon's preferred technique deep tissues are incised, released, and manipulated to provide exposure to facilitate the surgery. Special osteotomy instruments are used to resect the damaged joint surfaces while also correcting the bow knee deformity and effectively preparing the bone-implant interface. Trial implantation and joint reduction are performed to test prosthetic conformity, stability, and range of motion until the ideal fitting implant set is decided. The actual implants are fixed to their places with a special bone cement securely and permanently. Finally, a suction drain is placed to drain the accumulated blood and the wound is closed.
The patient usually stays in the hospital for 3 to 5 days. On the day after the surgery, the drain is generally removed and the patient starts to get mobilized with assistance. An exercise program is started to regain joint motion and function. Active and willing participation in the exercise program and rehabilitation protocol is as important as the surgery itself in order to obtain the best possible results. Appropriate anesthesia selection and postoperative proper pain medication suitable for your age and health status will be utilized to keep you in comfort as much as possible. Once everything is found stable and the patient can safely mobilize with crutches the patient is discharged. The patient is advised on how to exercise and physical conditions to refrain from. Generally, after the 5th day, the surgical wound should heal enough so that no serum or blood from the wound would be leaking. If this is the case you will need as little as 2 dressing changes until the wound is totally sealed and safe to be left open. You will be advised to use walking aids for 4 to 6 weeks after discharge. Most patients recover from these aids after six weeks. The exercises that your doctor or physiotherapist wants you to perform will determine your recovery time to normal living standards. Full recovery is expected to take up to 3-4 months.
As with any surgical operation, this surgery also carries risks as well as benefits. Although complications from knee replacement surgery are quite rare they can be very challenging and very rarely life-threatening. The common major complications from knee replacement surgery can be listed as deep-vein thrombosis, embolism, prosthetic infection, endoprosthetic mechanical problems, and stiff knee. Unfortunately, there are no known methods to totally prevent such complications. Yet, there are known and established approaches and methods to decrease the risk of these complications. You can and you should always ask your doctor for more information on complications and strategies to prevent them.
Please contact us for more information about total knee replacement.
- Robotic Knee Replacement
- Malunion Surgery
- Elbow Deformity
- Prosthetic Infection
- Hip Osteonecrosis
- Total Knee Replacement
- Total Hip Replacement
- Unicondylar Knee Arthroplasty
- Revision Arthroplasty
- Deformity Surgery
- 3D Total Knee Replacement
- 3D Revision Arthroplasty
- 3D Total Hip Replacement
- Halluks Valgus
