Knees do not wear out evenly. Sometimes one part of the knee is perfectly healthy while another part is irreversibly damaged. So why replace what isn’t broken?
Often, we find that patients have been told they need a total knee replacement when they could in fact benefit from a less invasive procedure. Today, with robotic assistance, we can perform partial knee replacements that resurface each compartment of the knee independently (as unicompartmental or unicondylar replacement) or in combination (as a bi-compartmental knee replacement). Unlike a total knee replacement that replaces the entire knee joint, and may unnecessarily remove healthy parts of your knee, a partial knee replacement preserves your healthy tissue and replaces only the damaged areas.
Benefits to Partial Knee Replacement
To achieve the accuracy required to successfully treat patients with a partial knee replacement, We uses Cuvis Robotic System. In an outpatient procedure, the cuvis robotic arm—programmed to follow a computerized 3-D model of the patient’s knee—is guided to remove only the damaged tissue from the joint and place the partial implant with exquisite precision. This minimally invasive technique preserves all the patient’s ligaments and produces a strong, natural-feeling knee that provides rapid pain relief and a return to an active lifestyle. Below are some of the benefits of a robotic-assisted partial knee replacement:
Unique Partial Knee Replacement benefits:
- All 4 stabilizing ligaments remain intact (ACL, PCL, MCL, LCL)
- Non-arthritic articular cartilage left intact
- A unicompartmental replacement may be expanded into a bi-compartmental or total knee replacement later in life
Returning Home
You will be discharged when you can get out of bed on your own and walk with a walker or crutches, walk up and down three steps, bend your knee 90 degrees and straighten your knee.
You will continue your home exercise program and go to outpatient physical therapy, where you will work on an advanced strengthening program and such programs as stationary cycling, walking, and aquatic therapy.
Your long-term rehabilitation goals are a range of motion from 100-120 degrees of knee flexion, mild or no pain with walking or other functional activities, and independence in all activities of daily living.