A U G U S T 2 0 1 6 O U T P A T I E N TS U R G E R Y. N E T 2 7
Surgeons often open up
knees to replace the entire
joint only to discover that the
lateral compartment looks
pristine or that the patient is
suffering only from medial
arthritis. Those patients typi-
cally have good range of motion, but
might suffer from a diseased medial
compartment with bowlegged varus
deformity. They may or may not have
arthritic changes in the patella femoral
joint, and they don't have significant
anterior knee pain. They point to the
medial side of knee and say nearly all
their pain occurs there. Or if they suffer
from lateral arthritis, which is less com-
mon, they indicate that most of their pain
is in the lateral part of the knee. If
they're experiencing isolated patella
femoral arthritis, they get a jolt of anteri-
or knee pain when walking up and down
steps or standing from a sitting position.
It's these patients, in whom pain can be
isolated to a single knee compartment,
who are ideal candidates for uni knee
procedures.
I've performed the procedure on
patients in their 70s and 80s whose
knees I would have replaced entirely just
2 or 3 years ago, before using robotics.
They experienced good results after
undergoing total knee replacements and
were happy to be rid of their arthritis
pain, but they felt like their joints never
returned to normal function. Now, with
the use of robotics, those same patients
are be back home ambulating 6 hours
after surgery in a lot less pain and rehab-
bing at twice the pace they would have
after having their entire joints replaced.
I've spoken with my patients who've had
a total joint replacement performed on
one knee and a robotic partial replace-
ment performed on the other. Uniformly
they prefer the outcome of the uni knee.
— Joseph Nessler, MD
ADDED VALUE
Patients Prefer
Partial Knees
• FOLLOW-UP EXAM Patients who undergo partial knee replacements report a
high degree of satisfaction and are in less pain than total joint patients.
