Partial Knee Replacement
(Unicondylar) knee replacement simply means that only a part of the knee joint is replaced (i.e. Partial Knee) through a smaller incision than would normally be used for a total knee replacement. Implant design, instrumentation and surgical techniques have improved markedly making it a very successful procedure for unicompartmental arthritis. Recent advances allow us to perform this through smaller incisions and therefore the procedure is not as traumatic to the knee making recovery quicker.
Surgical Procedure
Each knee is individual and knee replacements take this into account by having different sizes for your knee. If there is more than the usual amount of bone loss sometimes extra pieces of metal or bone are added.
Surgery is performed under sterile conditions in the operating room under spinal or general anesthesia. You will be on your back and a tourniquet applied to your upper thigh to reduce blood loss. Surgery will take approximately two hours.
The Patient is positioned on the operating table and the leg prepped and draped.
A tourniquet is applied to the upper thigh and the leg is prepared for the surgery with a sterilizing solution.
An incision around 7 cm is made to expose the knee joint. Smaller incisions are made if the surgery is done using arthroscopy.
The bone ends of the femur and tibia are prepared using a saw or a burr.
Trial components are then inserted to make sure they fit properly.
The real components (Femoral; Tibial) are then put into place with or without cement.
The knee is then carefully closed and drains usually inserted, and the knee dressed and bandaged.