Knee Replacement Surgery

What is Knee Replacement Surgery?

Knee Prosthesis Surgery (Total Knee Arthroplasty) is the surgical removal of damaged joint surfaces and the placement of orthopedic knee prosthesis implants.

Knee Replacement Surgery (Total Knee Arthroplasty)

It is an operation in which the damaged joint surfaces of the femur and tibia bones, which form the knee joint, are surgically removed and replaced with orthopedic implants consisting of metal and polyethelien materials.

It is a surgery that is performed frequently and successfully today, in cases of advanced knee osteoarthritis, which allows the patient to both end the pain complaint and regain the lost knee function. The average lifespan of new generation knee prosthesis is 20-25 years.

Knee Arthroplasty

Total Knee Arthroplasty

Who Can Have Knee Prosthesis Surgery?

In patients with severe pain and functional limitation due to knee arthritis; In cases where medication therapy, physical therapy and knee intra-articular injection treatment methods fail, the most appropriate option is knee prosthesis surgery.

What is Life Like After Knee Replacement Surgery?

After knee replacement surgery, patients can start walking one day later. Knee replacement surgery is an operation that requires an average of 2 nights of hospitalization. After surgery, patients are subjected to a strict exercise and rehabilitation program.

After an appropriate surgical treatment and rehabilitation program, patients achieve a painless and functional knee joint in approximately 1 month. After the rehabilitation period is completed, patients can perform all knee movements with their operated knees.

Orthopedic Knee Implants

In patients who have undergone correct operations using advanced orthopedic implants and who pay attention to their daily life, body weight and exercises; Knee prostheses can be used for many years without causing any problems.

What is open knee surgery?

Calcified and damaged joint structures in the knee joint are removed by open surgery. This is the replacement of the joint with metal alloys and polyethylene implants. In this way, painful knee joint tissues are removed.

Is knee replacement surgery an experimental treatment?

Knee replacement surgery is one of the most frequently performed operations in our country and all over the world. There are thousands of academic studies about this surgery. It is an operation whose effectiveness has been proven and accepted by orthopedic surgeons.

How many hours does knee replacement surgery take?

It is an operation that takes approximately 1 hour, although it may vary depending on the patient and the surgeon performing it. Surgical experience is the most important factor that shortens the duration. The material used and the patient's weight may also change the surgical time.

Are there risks of knee replacement surgery?

Although it has some surgical risks, as in every surgery, it is generally a safe operation with a low complication rate. The perfection of surgical practice and the sterilization of the hospital where the operation is performed are important. By paying attention to all components, the risk of complications is tried to be reduced to zero.

What are the comments about knee replacement surgery?

After a successful knee prosthesis, nearly 90% of knee pain complaints disappear within approximately 3 months. It takes up to 6 months for knee functions to return to their healthy state. After a successful operation, the patient can forget about the prosthesis on the operated knee within a few years.

How is the price of knee replacement surgery determined?

The price varies depending on the hospital where the surgery is performed, the surgical team that performs it and the quality of the prosthesis used in the operation. The patient should ask the surgical team whether quality materials are used. The quality and cleanliness of the hospital and operating room where the surgery is performed are important in all orthopedic surgeries.

Is there pain after knee replacement surgery?

The patient's postoperative surgical site pain decreases day by day and ends approximately on the 15th day. Pain due to knee arthritis is expected to end almost completely in about 1 month after the operation.

What is the recovery period like after knee replacement surgery?

On the first day after knee surgery, the person can walk by stepping on the operated knee and physical therapy is started immediately. The stitches are removed on the 15th day. Walking without limping occurs in approximately the first month.

When is it possible to climb stairs after knee replacement surgery?

On the first day after knee surgery, the person can walk by stepping on the operated knee and physical therapy is started immediately. It is possible for patients to go up and down stairs in the first week after the operation.

What is Knee Calcification (Gonarthrosis)?

Knee arthritis is caused by the articular cartilage that forms the knee joint; I've worn out over the years It is a serious disease that causes pain and limitation of movement in patients due to pain and loss.

Considering the recent increase in average life expectancy, its frequency is gradually increasing and it affects approximately 10 percent of the population at some point in their lifetime.

Joint Cartilages in the Impaired Knee

Cartilage Damage in the Knee

Causes of Knee Calcification

Factors such as malnutrition and being overweight (increased body mass index), history of trauma / fracture around the knee, excessive strain on the knee joint due to daily life or occupational situation, old age and hereditary transmission; It can be considered among the most common causes of knee arthritis.

Symptoms of Knee Calcification

Symptoms such as pain in the knee and surrounding joints, limitation of function, decreased joint range of motion, swelling and feeling of stuckness in the joints, shortening of walking distance and duration, and night pain; These are conditions frequently encountered in knee arthritis.

 Feeling severe knee pain.

Knee Calcification Treatments

In first-line treatment; Non-surgical treatments are preferred. Lifestyle changes, weight loss recommendations and some medical drug treatments are applied. Patients are given exercise suggestions that they can perform at home, and their rehabilitation is aimed through physical therapy practices.

Knee Calcification Surgery

Surgical treatment is preferred in patients where all these protective measures fail and pain and movement limitation seriously affect daily life.

In the surgical treatment of knee arthritis; Tibial osteotomies, half knee prostheses (unicondylar knee arthroplasty) and total knee prostheses (total knee arthroplasty) are the most frequently preferred surgical procedures.

High Tibial Osteotomy

Half Knee Prosthesis (Unicondylar Knee Prosthesis)