Partial knee replacement is one of the compartments of arthroplasty surgery that targets patients who carry knee osteoarthritis or rheumatoid arthritis. The procedure involves replacing the compartments of the knee joint, which become destructive due to irreparable osteoarthritis.
Patients usually spend 45 days in rehabilitation after the partial knee operation. Therefore, they must have assistance in recovering both properly or abiding walking and moving right after the arthroscopic partial knee operation. This article explains to us what knee replacement surgery is and how it differs from other procedures.
Understanding Partial Knee Replacement
In the case of partial knee replacement, the surgeon splits your leg in front of your knee and then removes the affected parts of your knee joints. It is also known as a partial tibiofemoral joint replacement or parietal knee arthroplasty. Your damaged knee joint is totally disassembled, and damaged parts are substituted by artificial plastic or metal ones.
The major part of your knee is the three different sections: medial (inside) section, lateral (outside) section, and patellofemoral (bottom of the kneecap). In the case of total knee replacement, it is in the place of these sites that your knee is injured, either representing the inner or outer compartments of your knee.
Conditions Treated Through Partial Knee Replacement
Partial knee reconstruction is mostly needed by people who have arthritis. If medicines and nonsurgical procedures don’t help you out, then your surgeon will recommend a partial knee implant to you. Some symptoms include stiffness or pain in joints, limited movement or trouble in moving your knees, and swelling. The best Knee Replacement Surgeon in Jaipur will analyze your condition, run a diagnostics test, and then inform you when to take the surgery.
It is a very common surgery, with surgeons performing thousands of partial knee operations every year. Mostly, people who have arthritis have problems in all three compartments of their knees. Therefore, partial knee arthroplasty is carried out in people who suffer from osteoarthritis.
Preparing for Partial Knee Replacement
- Take a physical exam and ensure that you’re fit for a surgery
- Get proper blood tests done
- Get your heart checked by doing an electrocardiography.
- Get your teeth clean so they won’t catch any infections or get allergies.
- Have a bag diffused and imaging tests such as X-ray, CT scan, and MRI done.
- Inform your surgeon about all the medications (including supplements) you were taking before surgery.
- Stop consuming and eating approximately a 12-hour time gap right before the planned surgery can commence.
Partial Knee Replacement Procedure
Before your knee surgery happens, the surgeon will first put you under anesthesia in order to block your senses from experiencing any discomfort or pain. You will receive regional anaesthesia to your waist area or general anaesthesia for completely sleeping during the surgery. Generally, it takes around one hour to finish the knee surgery.
The partial knee implant surgery procedure comprises –
- The surgeon will remove the damaged bone and cartilage in the knee compartments that require replacement.
- Next, the surgeon will insert the artificial or prosthetic implants into the compartments.
Right after the surgery, you will go to the recovery room. The team will examine you for the next few hours. This ensures you don’t pick up any complications or issues after the surgery ends. They also check your pain level and other vital signs.
Generally, the patient is able to go home on the same day as the surgery. But it can be a night-long stay at the hospital or the clinic, depending on their health status. If a patient has complications or obstacles on the way to recovery, then that hospital stay may take longer for him to recover properly.
Who Benefits From Partial Knee Replacement?
Usually, arthritis patients who have damage in a single knee compartment and are not very obese should go for partial knee reconstruction. If anyone has a lot of deformity or marked knee stiffness, then it is not advisable for them to go for this surgery type.
People whose knee ligaments are intact are good to go. Therefore, anyone who has a torn ACL or someone suffering from rheumatoid arthritis is not a candidate for partial knee replacement.
Other than this, the patient and the surgeon can evaluate their case separately and come up with the decision of going with the surgery or not. Also, for people over the age of 60, a partial knee implant is the best option as it involves lower trauma than the total option.
Bottom Line
It is really frustrating and difficult to live normally with stiffness and pain in the knee joints. One cannot move around properly, and it is hard to perform everyday tasks.
If are suffering from issues in your knee for a long time and other treatments are not providing you positive results, then consider getting a partial knee replacement. Talk to the surgeon at Ginni Devi Hospital regarding the best option. This will help you deal with knee pain, and you can live comfortably.