Article written on 24th December 2008
Advanced Ortho Treatment facilities at KMC Speciality Hospitals
Joint Replacements and Key Hole Surgery
What are joints and why do I get pain in my joints?
Joints are present when two bones meet allowing movement to occur.
The ends of bones are lined with a tissue called cartilage. This tissue is strong and smooth. This is lubricated with fluid in the joint.
Ligaments are tissues which hold the bones and allow movement in a certain direction.
Joints are damaged by commonly by diseases, injury, ageing or infection.
Problems with the joints are major causes of immobility and disability. We often see people who can only walk slowly, or for short distances due to pain due to the joint problems. Knee arthritis is very common as one gets old.
What is arthritis?
Arthritis means inflammation of joints. It can be due to many causes.
Your Orthopaedic Surgeon would be able to diagnose the cause of arthritis by taking a history from yourselves and examination. He would need to request specific tests if the cause is not clear by examination alone.
Is there a cure for my arthritis?
It depends on the cause of arthritis. The most common cause of arthritis is Osteoarthritis, which is wear and tear of the joint lining called cartilage with age alone. This can come earlier if there had been previous injury.
The treatment of joint disorders has greatly improved in the last thirty years in other countries and over the past ten years in India. This is partly due to the option of treatment with artificial joint replacements.
What are artificial joint replacements?
Artificial joints replace worn out [arthritic] joints. They are very commonly performed for pain and are very successful in relieving pain. Knees and hips are very commonly replaced, though artificial joint replacements are done for shoulder, elbow, hand and ankle as well.
How do they actually look like?
The picture shows some of the actual prostheses in joint replacements. These are not all inclusive as advanced designs are available for patients
What are current advances in joint replacements?
Only part of the knee replaced as shown in the picture below. Advances in metallurgy and materials in the prosthetic design are available to a patient in Trichy. Management before and after surgery has changed over the past few years. The surgeon at KMC Speciality would use the up to date management practised in UK due to his recent return from England.
Are these new or experimental?
No. These have been successfully performed for over thirty years. The joints are manufactured by advanced engineering methods. They are made of very high quality metal, ceramic and polyethylene. Over 60000 patients are receiving these prostheses by surgery in one year in Australia alone [2003-2004 figures]
Who will perform this at KMC and what is his experience
The surgery would be performed by a senior surgeon who has returned to Trichy after more than fifteen years of experience in UK. He has performed surgeries routinely for the past seven years as a senior surgeon. He had been practising in the largest centre for joint Replacements in UK where more than 4200 patients are treated per year alone [2007 figures]
He has performed research in this field in UK. This has been published and his article which is commonly quoted in the international literature.
“ Outcome of cemented-v-cementless fixation of femoral component in TKR with the identification of radiological signs for the prediction of failure
THE KNEE Dec 1; 7(4): 233-238 2000”
Is this treatment without any problems?
This treatment is very successful in relieving pain. However some patients can have complications. The surgery performed by an experienced surgeon can reduce the complications. Hence it is essential to know your Doctor and his experience who performs this surgery.
Will I be able to walk without limp and will my joint move normally after surgery?
As pain goes your walking will actually improve than before surgery. Hip replacement patients return to normality sooner even though it is a deeper joint. Knee replacement patients will return comparatively slower, however there would be no difference in the success of this surgery.
Treatment after surgery improves the success greatly and your Surgeon would advise you accordingly.
What Should I do?
If you or someone you know suffers from joint pain, please understand that one should not have to live with pain.
Not all patients with joint pain will need joint replacements.
Other causes of joint pain can be treatable completely by medication such as gouty arthritis. Some of the patients’ joint pain can be treated by medication such as Rheumatoid arthritis, though surgery can remarkably change one’s life with surgery.
Other patients can be treated by key hole surgery to the joints.
What is key hole surgery of knee?
I am sure you are aware of sportsmen twisting their knee and disappear from the sports scene for couple of months before returning to normality. They often sustain cartilage injuries which are treatable by key hole surgery. Surprisingly quite a lot of general population have cartilage problems, but choose to live with pain. They can also be treated by key hole surgery.
