Knee Replacement Surgery

I am Dr Hardik Ghundiyal, practising orthopaedics surgeon since 7 years in Bombay. I am mainly into minimal Invasive Joint replacement surgeries.

Knee Replacement surgeries have been done all over the globe since last 30 years. And they have been very successful. In the past, if the patients had arthritis, we could only give them pain killers. But as if now when a patient comes with knee stiffness, pain, deformity, we can provide them with the total knee replacement. We always give a non-surgical conservative approach to the patient when the patient comes with arthritis. If that fails and they are not relieved from the pain, then we give them the option of total knee replacement. About 5,000,00 total knee replacement is being done all over the globe every year. Most of the people who have experienced knee replacement they think that they could have done it before because the pain relief is so good.

When we do a total knee replacement, we do not cut 2 inches or 3 inches of bone from the thigh, instead, we do re-surfacing of the knee. In the normal knee, there are smooth surfaces on the both sides which glide easily when the movement of the knees are done. But in the arthritic knee, the surface is pitted and get rough because of which the pain is there when they glide on each other.

In the total knee replacement surgery, we change the rougher surface into a smooth gliding prosthetic material so that they glide on each other without any pain and patient get pain free movements. The material has been improved drastically from last 15-20 years. The process however remains the same but the plastics, the poly ethylene which is used in between the metal surfaces have been improved drastically by durability as well as the strength. The research has improved the longevity and the prosthesis.

During surgery, we use a muscle sparing approach, that means we do not cut-open muscles while doing the surgery. The patient is mobile as early as possible. The patient is able to stand and walk up on the same day of the surgery. If a patient is comfortable, we make them able to walk also. Hence the hospital stay is reduced and it is minimized to 2-3 days only.

The recovery of the patients depends on how active was the patient pre-operative. Some patients need a walker, walking aid, some patients are mobile without any support. Most of the times, you can get back an activity within month time a surgery.

For more information, you can contact me through lybrate.com.