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Knee Joint Replacement
The knee itself is not replaced, only the damaged cartilage and bone ends. Knee replacement implants include a metal alloy component on the end of the thighbone (femur) and top area of the tibia with a polyethylene (plastic) component between them. The implant is designed to create a new, smoothly functioning joint that can prevent painful bone-on-bone contact. Your surgeon may elect to replace all or part of your knee, depending on your condition and the extent to which your knee is affected by arthritis.
A Healthy Knee
Partial Knee Arthritis Total Knee Arthritis
Which Knee Replacement?
There are large numbers of different designs of knee replacements from which your surgeon may choose.
The early designs of knee replacement were simple hinges. However the natural knee rotates as well as bends so these early designs tended to fail. The majority of current designs just replaces the surface of the joint and are not hinged. They rely on your own existing knee ligaments to keep the knee stable. In situations where knee ligaments are damaged, there is the option with some designs to use stabilised components that reproduce some of the functions of the ligaments
With modern materials and improvements in techniques and antibiotic therapy, total knee replacement is an increasingly successful operation with survivorship of 98.9% of implants reported for some types at 15 years. (Reference – Ritter).
Only an orthopedic surgeon can determine what treatment is appropriate. Individual results of total joint replacement may vary. The life of any implant will depend on your weight, age, activity level, and other factors.
Minimally Invasive Technology
Microplasty® Minimally Invasive Surgery: Reducing Trauma to Your Knee (headline)
Biomet was the first company to introduce a minimally invasive surgical technique for total knee replacement. Our Microplasty® Minimally Invasive Instrumentation can help your surgeon to reduce the incision from 6-8" to 3-4". Additionally, this approach reduces the extent to which the surgeon must disrupt the soft tissue surrounding the knee. As a result, your muscles, ligaments, and tendons will undergo less trauma during surgery. This may help reduce post-operative pain, improve your recovery time, and get you back on your feet faster.
Potential Benefits of the Microplasty® Knee Program are:
• Shorter hospital stays
• Earlier mobilisation
• Accelerated recovery process
• Less blood loss
• Reduction of scar tissue
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