Partial Knee Replacement Surgery

Partial knee replacement has been around for over 25 years. It is reserved for patients with arthritis that is limited to a small area of the knee, usually the medial or the lateral compartments as they are referred to. It is, by definition, minimally invasive when compared to total knee replacement and is typically an outpatient procedure. The success rate is extremely high when careful patient selection is applied. Less experienced surgeons are attempting to apply robotic techniques for this operation, but an improved version of traditional instrumentation provides excellent results in experienced hands. Unlike robotics, which requires a pre-operative CT scan and the placement of guide pins in the bone, (which has been associated with fracture and infection), the updated version of traditional instruments provide a lower risk operation. Dr. Penenberg was part of the design team that created these new instruments and also updated the implant design. The advantages and disadvantages include:

• Outpatient surgery
• More rapid recovery compared to TKA
• Carries the risk of return of symptoms if one of the other knee compartments begins to develop arthritis