As the largest joint in your body, your knee performs critical work — supporting your weight and allowing you to walk, run, jump, climb stairs, get in and out of a chair, and much more. Your knees are also complex and contain muscles, ligaments, cartilage, and nerves.
It’s easy to take our knees for granted if everything is working well, but when there’s a problem, we quickly become aware of our limitations.
Wear and tear, injuries, and conditions like arthritis contribute to knee deterioration, which causes pain and other uncomfortable symptoms and limits mobility.
Two of the most commonly performed knee surgeries are partial and total knee replacements — over 850,000 and 790,000 each year, respectively, in the United States alone — but how do you and your doctor determine which option is best for you?
As an accomplished board-certified orthopedic surgeon, Dr. Vasilios Mathews helps you decide which procedure is appropriate for you. The decision depends on multiple factors, but he can compassionately walk you through them and provide sound advice. Dr. Mathews’ priority is always to find the solution tailored to your needs, giving you freedom from pain and full mobility.
When Dr. Mathews considers which knee surgery is best for his patients, he analyzes many factors. He then has an in-depth discussion with you about your symptoms, orders imaging tests, and gives you a complete evaluation.
When assessing your knee condition, he must investigate just how much cartilage damage has occurred.
Depending on the damage and location, you may only need a partial knee replacement.
A partial knee replacement is a solution for certain conditions:
When some healthy knee cartilage remains, but a patient has experienced some cartilage damage or loss, a partial knee replacement may be the answer.
The benefits of a partial knee replacement include retaining the healthy parts of the knee, which gives you a more natural sensation after surgery, and allowing you to bend your knee more efficiently.
The most successful and widely performed partial knee replacement surgery that Dr. Mathews favors is the OxfordⓇ mobile bearing partial knee replacement. In this procedure, he removes damaged bone and tissue before replacing it with a prosthetic.
The procedure preserves healthy bone, ligaments, and cartilage, and the prosthesis allows your knee to function optimally. It is also muscle-sparing and minimally invasive, meaning you recover more quickly and experience less pain, bleeding, and scarring than traditional techniques.
What situations require a full knee replacement, or arthroplasty? Dr. Mathews advises this if the entire knee joint is damaged (three out of three knee “compartments”) due to osteoarthritis, injury, or any other condition that harms the knee.
If your pain, stiffness, and inflammation have become unmanageable, your knee is very unstable, and your mobility is badly compromised, you should probably consider a completely new prosthetic knee joint.
Fortunately, total knee replacements are successful for patients of all ages, even the elderly.
Both partial and total knee replacements are realistic treatment options if conservative treatments, like pain medications, cortisone injections, and physical therapy, haven’t been or are no longer successful. Dr. Mathews also considers your age, activity level, weight, and other considerations as he assesses whether surgery is right for you.
Regarding the lifespans of partial and total knee replacements, most who receive either can expect them to last an impressive 15-20 years.
We mentioned that minimally invasive techniques have revolutionized knee surgery, but another development — robotic surgery — has also improved patients’ experiences.
Contrary to what some believe, robotic surgery doesn’t mean that some type of robot performs your knee surgery. Instead, Dr. Mathews uses and controls a robotic arm as he performs surgery, and the technology and sophisticated software enable him to work with greater precision.
These newer techniques have reduced the lengths of hospital stays, and patients often go home the same day of their surgery or the day after.
Whether you require a knee replacement due to deterioration or injury or need to correct an earlier failed surgery, Dr. Mathews can help restore your knee's functionality, comfort, and mobility.
Call our Houston office at 713-794-3548 to schedule an appointment, learn more, or book online.
