Knee Replacement Surgery

The knee joint is the joint in which deformation begins the earliest among the others due to continuity of its action in performing walking, sitting or carrying the weight.

With its complicated structure formed in bone, cartilage, soft tissue and joint fluid, movements such as walking, running, jumping, sitting and standing, going up and down are performed by the knee joint.

Chronic knee joint diseases such as rheumatism and osteoarthritis cause limited range of motion and chronic severe pain in the knees. Knee replacement surgery is an orthopedic surgical treatment in which we achieve successful results in such cases that negatively affect the comfort of daily life.

What is Knee Replacement?

 Knee replacement is the complete or partial replacement of the dysfunctional knee joint with artificial joints or joint parts. Total prosthesis and unicondylar (half) prosthesises implants made of metal and polyethylene.

Knee prosthesises, which are usually implanted instead of cartilage tissue, allow the knee joint to move again and eliminate the contact, pressure and irritation that cause pain.

In Which Situations Is Knee Prosthesis Performed? 

Depending on the results of the physical examination of the patient who applied to the doctor with complaints of knee pain and limitation of movement and the degree of wear of the knee joint, the priority is in favor of physical therapy and drug use.

Surgery may be preferred as the primary treatment approach in cases such as advanced calcification and joint rheumatism, advanced destruction of cartilage tissue due to diseases that cause joint fluid withdrawal.

It is possible to perform knee replacement surgery if one or more of the following conditions are present:

• Limitation of movement, locking in the knees, loss of will to move
• Difficulty in performing activities such as walking, sitting up and climbing stairs
• The rubbing of bones against each other due to advanced erosion of the cartilage tissue
• Severe pain in the knees
• Waking up with pain from sleep, sleep disturbance problems due to pain
• Distortion of knee shape

How is Knee Replacement Surgery Performed?

Knee prosthesis is performed under general anesthesia by open surgery method. After the top of the kneecap is opened, the deformed cartilage tissue is removed from the bone, instead the bones forming the joint are covered with metal alloy and fixed to the surrounding tissues in such a way that they work without rubbing against each other.

Knee replacement surgery is performed with an open operation in all conditions, but performing open knee replacement operation with robotic surgery can be preferred as an alternative procedure

The patients take their first walk under the supervision of the doctor the next day after the surgery. The patients are discharged from the hospital on the day they walk about 70-80 steps, usually on the 2nd day, and continue with the physical therapy procedure.

It can be done on one knee or both knees at the same time.

Knee Replacement Revision

 The second or third operations performed on people who have had a knee prosthesis before are called knee prosthesis revision surgeries.

The expiration of the prosthesis, infection, deterioration of the bone and soft tissue surrounding the metal prosthesis, loosening of the prosthesis implant, recurrent joint stiffness, feeling of instability in the joint and gait disturbances are the conditions that cause the knee replacement surgery to be repeated.

Prosthetic infections usually occur in 2 stages. First of all, the infected knee prosthesis is surgically removed and replaced with a temporary prosthesis called a spacer with antibiotics, after 2 months of antibiotic treatment and after the clinical and blood infection values return to normal, a second surgery is performed and the patient is restored to health. The process proceeds as in primary knee replacement.