Partial knee replacement

Partial knee replacement may prove to be the answer to your knee pain. Not every patient with knee osteoarthritis needs a total knee replacement.

Partial knee replacement is exactly what it sounds like it is! Only the part, or compartment, of your knee joint which is diseased will be replaced with an implant. The implant is customized to your knee using advanced technology available from knee implant manufacturers.

Each implant manufacturer (i.e. Stryker, Biomet, Arthrex) has a specific system and procedure tailored to the implant recipient. One of the most popular systems is the MAKO® Robotic-Arm Assisted Surgery system, available at Seaside Surgery Center for use in our outpatient partial knee replacement program.

With this system, your surgeon will develop a plan for positioning your implant that is customized for your anatomy. He can actually test the plan by moving your leg through a range of motion, adjusting it as necessary.

The final plan is programmed into the MAKO® system which creates a safety zone for bone removal. Your surgeon guides the robotic arm in the removal of the diseased bone.

Partial knee replacement, naturally, causes less trauma to the surrounding healthy bone and tissue. It is considered a minimally invasive surgical approach.

There are three types of Partial Knee Replacement, depending on what portion of the knee joint is affected. In Unicondylar Knee Replacement, or “Uni knee” as it’s often referred to, only the singular affected compartment of the knee is replaced. That could be the medial compartment or the lateral compartment. Patellofemoral Knee Replacement is a procedure that replaces the worn patella (the kneecap) and the trochlea (the groove at the end of the thigh bone). In Bicompartmental Knee Replacement, both the medial and the patellofemoral compartments are replaced.