Partial Knee Replacement: (Unicondylar Replacement)
Our approach to treatment of knee arthritis is to preserve the knee whenever possible rather than replace it. For many patients, we can avoid replacement altogether by replacing cartilage, realigning the leg, injecting stem cells or other advanced biologic options. For those patients who are no longer candidates for biologic preservation of the knee, some doctors automatically recommend a full knee replacement. However, newer techniques of replacement allow us to preserve much of the knee and only replace the injured areas. This is called a partial knee replacement. Often only one part of the knee has arthritis. So why remove the entire knee? Partial knee replacements take approximately 1 hour, and the patient can go home the same day and put weight on the knee immediately. Success rates are greater than 90% and provide a more stable and natural feeling knee than a full knee replacement.
Who is a candidate:
If you have localized arthritis to either the inside or outside of your knee, or even just to the area of the knee cap, you may be a candidate for a partial rather than a full knee replacement.
