ORTHOPEDICS/HIP & KNEE/SURGICAL TECHNIQUES
Overall Knee Switching Surgery Option for Arthritis Patients
Osteotomy is a knee surgery performed as an alternative of an overall knee switching to adjust the weight-bearing forces in an instable knee joint.
Patients with deteriorating Arthritis, or Osteoarthritis of the knee joint, suffers from knee abnormalities.
These abnormalities called genu varum (bow-legged) or genu valgum (knock-kneed), comprise a bow-legged or knock-kneed presence.
Reasons a Bow-Legged or Knock-Kneed abnormality in Arthritis
As Arthritis evolutes, the cartilage of the joint became thinner.
The meniscus, or joint cushions, are also spoiled and the knee will show a distorted appearance.
Bow-legged is a varus deformity resulting when the inside, or medial side, of the joint is worn thin.
Knock-knees is a valgus deformity resulting when the outside, or lateral side of the joint wears thin
Knee Osteotomy Assistance
Osteotomy consist in shifting the weight-bearing forces to “unload” the worn outside of the joint, in addition to placing the forces on the healthier side of the joint.
Knee Osteotomy Surgery Perfect Applicant
The perfect patient for a knee Osteotomy is a young and active person, who has limited Arthritis to one side of the knee joint.
The patient should suffer significant pain and infirmity, as he should know that recovery from this operation is lengthy and hard.
Good applicants for this operation must fit the following norms:
- Significant pain and infirmity
- X-rays showing the contribution of only one side of the knee joint
- The aptitude to cooperating with physical therapy
Bad Applicant for a Knee Osteotomy
The knee osteotomy is not accurate for everyone.
performing inappropriately this operation on the wrong patient can have poor results.
Generally, patients below criteria should avoid this surgery:
- knee extensive Arthritis
- knee Instability
- knee motion restrictions
- Inflammatory arthritis (such as rheumatoid arthritis)
Knee Osteotomy/Recovery
The recovery from a knee osteotomy can be problematic because the bone is cut and necessitate time to heal.
The global healing time is at least 8 weeks and can even take longer. In addition that physical therapy is recommended to help regaining the knee motion.
Knee Osteotomy/Complications
Commonly, this operation fails over the time. So it will be better to avoid it as much much as the patient can feel supporting.
In addition that this surgery requires time to healing with sustaining risks of arthritis pain, blood clots, and inflammation.
Knee Osteotomy/Success
When done to the correct patients, knee osteotomies are frequently successful at decreasing pain caused by Arthritis.
Good results remains for about 8 to 10 years, and after that time, many patients will need an overall knee switching replacement.
For all these above reasons, knee osteotomy is generally specific for young and active patients who wish to postpone the time until an overall knee switching.