What is Knee-joint Replacement?
This is a surgical process that is carried out for the replacement of the upset knee-joint with an artificial knee-joint. Normally, this procedure is required for the people who are the unfortunate victims of knee arthritis. Arthritis is a situation that causes the person to suffer extreme pain and swelling in the knee joint and the victim also faces extreme difficulty in moving the knee-joint.
Causes that lead to the knee-joint replacement
- Overwear and tear of the knee-joint.
- It can be passed to the younger generation through hereditary.
- Overweight people very normally face this problem as knee-joint fails to support the weight of the body.
- An injury caused to the knee-joint.
Symptoms to Understand the Condition
- Unbearable regular pain in the knee-joint.
- Continuous swelling of the knee-joint.
- Difficulty in moving the knee.
- You can see that your knee-joint has lost the normal shape and feel more tenderness in the joint.
Purpose of the Knee-joint Replacement
The total knee replacement is the last option doctors suggest after the failure of other treatments like weight loss regime, medications for the pain and swelling, trying to get back the strength of knee-joint through physical therapy, using assistive devices like a knee brace or a cane and other treatments.
Artificial knee-joint is also referred as prosthesis and are made in different varieties like of plastics, polymers or metal alloys. It has the capability of performing the function of the knee flawlessly.
There are few factors that a doctor has to confirm before referring any patient to the knee-joint replacement surgery like
- Age of the patient plays a critical role as it decides whether the patient has the strength to go through the recovery process or not. Normally, the surgery is conducted for the people who are below 55 years of age.
- The calculation of knee movement in a day is also considered, if the movement is not very high then knee-joint replacement is not considered as an ideal option.
- If the knee-joint is deformed regularly then the surgery is conducted as soon as possible.
- A complete check-up of the patient is taken to assert the overall health condition and then the decision about the surgery is taken. The knee replacement in Delhi is done especially by Dr Ashish Jain.
The Surgical Procedure
The complete knee-joint replacement surgery takes less than 2 hours, but it is the recovery time that is much more and depends on the overall health condition of the patient.
Injecting anaesthesia into the region of the surgery is the first procedure and then a cut is made on the front side of the knee. The injured part of the joint is then carefully removed and replaced by the kind of artificial knee-joint selected like metal or plastic. Once the replacement is completed the artificial knee-joint is attached to the thigh bone and the kneecap using special material used in such surgeries.
The size of the cut normally varies on an individual basis and today with advanced technology surgeries are performed with a very minimal cut that helps the patient in recovering faster and bearing lesser pain.
Complications involved in the Replacement
Surgeries always have the risk of bleeding, infections and blood clots. It is the responsibility of the doctor to explain the risk involved with the knee replacement surgery and what all patients should do in order to minimize the risks.
Some of the complications are mentioned below:
- Excess of bleeding or infection.
- Blood clots in the leg.
- Anaesthesia can cause breathing problems.
- The knee can become stiff.
- Damage to the nerves of the knee.
- There can be an injury to the bones during surgery.
- Replaced knee-joint can become loose or can break, which is usually a rare case.
Knee Joint Replacement 