What is Knee Arthroplasty?

Knee arthroplasty, commonly known as knee replacement surgery, is a procedure that replaces the damaged or worn-out knee joint with an artificial implant. This surgery is designed to relieve pain, correct deformity, and enhance knee function, helping patients regain their active lifestyles.

Types of Knee Arthroplasty

✔ Total Knee Replacement (TKR) – The entire knee joint is replaced with artificial components.

✔ Partial Knee Replacement (PKR) – Only the damaged part of the knee is replaced, preserving more natural tissue.

✔ Revision Knee Replacement – A procedure performed to replace or repair a previously implanted knee joint due to wear or complications.

Benefits of Knee Arthroplasty

✔ Significant Pain Relief – Eliminates or greatly reduces chronic knee pain.

✔ Improved Mobility – Restores movement, allowing patients to walk, climb stairs, and engage in daily activities more comfortably.

✔ Long-Term Solution – Modern implants can last 15–20 years or more.

Risks of Knee Arthroplasty

✔ Variable Success Rates – Despite modern implants and improved surgical techniques up to 20% of patients will not be satisfied with a knee replacment

✔ Infection Risk – While infection is rare, an infection of a knee replacement is a live changing complication that a patient may never fully recover from.

✔ Invasive Surgical Procedure – Knee replacement is major surgery with significant perioperative risks

✔ Not for at-risk populations - Medical evidence suggests that patients aged greater than 75 years, those with elevated Hemoglobin A1C, and those with elevated BMI have elevated risks with knee replacment

Who is a Candidate for Knee Arthroplasty?

You may be a candidate for knee replacement surgery if you:

• Experience severe knee pain that limits daily activities.

• Have significant joint damage due to osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, or injury.

• Have not responded to medications, physical therapy, or injections.

• Are in overall good health and able to undergo surgery and rehabilitation.

• Have significant deformity that needs surgical correction.

Who will not do well with a knee replacement?

Medical studies have found that up to 20% of patients are dissatisfied with a knee replacement surgery. Who is at-risk of being dissatisfied?

• Patients older than 75 years.

• Patients with significant pre-operative pain.

• High-risk patients with medical comorbidites.

Knee Treatment Study Group Opinion

Knee arthroplasty remains the gold standard for treatment of knee osteoarthritis. If you have failed conservative management and/or have significant deformity knee replacement can provide life-changing outcomes with long-term benefit. For many people this is an excellent option and has long-term data to support its efficancy.

However, despite significant advancements in surgical technique and operative materials up to 20% of patients remain dissatisfied with knee replacement surgery. It seems that this has something to do with the knee joint itself as more than 95% of patients are satisfied with hip replacements. This high level of dissatisfaction is not discussed often enough. Older patients and those with significant morbidities are at higher risk of dissatisfaction and complications.

If you are a health patient aged 60-75 a knee replacement may be a wonderful option. However, if you are older, sicker, diabetic, or overweight you may do better with the less-risky surgical knee denervation procedure.

If you are a patient who has had a knee replacement and still has pain you may also wish to consider a surgical knee denervation procedure.