arthroplasty

I would like to draw attention to this excellent article on knee replacements. This should answer most questions about the design of the prostheses and what each kind of prosthesis is trying to achieve.

After going through the procedure of knee replacement surgery it can be devastating to find that the pain in the knee has persisted. This paper discusses the possible reasons why this might occur.

There are a number of problems which which are the commoner causes of persistent pain after a knee replacement -

Knee replacement patients are generally in the 'autumn of their days'. It's important to ensure your family is part of the education process when knee replacement surgery is pending. Their support is critical for a successful rehab which can take months after surgery. Ask that they attend the pre-op clinic with you so any questions they have can be answered. Like you, they will want to know about the risks involved in surgery, the medications you will find it necessary to take, the rehab protocol and in general, how they can assist your recovery.

Key articles on partial knee replacement, in date order of publication, that we have reviewed/interpreted for you include -

Are you contemplating a knee replacement and want to know the raw facts? Like "what are the chances of actually dying from this procedure?".

A medical paper published in August 2001 (ref 1) examines this question in more than 22,000 consecutive knee replacement patients from the same organisation and the results suggest that: