Procedures

Knee Replacement

Over 100,000 knee replacements are performed annually in the United Kingdom and the operation has become one of the most durable and successful of joint replacements.  Although the knee joint is a more complex joint than the hip, knee replacements are now as safe as and as reliable as hip replacements.   A variety of different types of knee replacement are available but the most commonly performed, cemented total condylar or total knee replacement, has a clinical survivorship of over 95% at 10 years.

Pain is the principal indication for knee replacement and the operation relieves pain in the vast majority of patients, with over 90%  reporting relief of pain and around 80% describing the results of surgery good or excellent.    Relief of pain allows patients who have undergone knee replacement to resume most normal activities, including recreational and some social sporting activity.

National Joint Registries are demonstrating that the most durable knee replacements are cemented total condylar in type and the majority of knee replacements performed are of this variety.  Uni-compartmental or partial knee replacement is performed in selected cases when arthritis is confined to one compartment of the knee joint.

Mr Gibb & Mr Bowman began performing robotic assisted surgery using Smith & Nephew robotic tools in early 2021 and over 1000 robotic assisted total knee and partial knee replacements have since been performed at the Nuffield Hospital.   The CORI robotic system facilitates very accurate intraoperative digital assessment and computer assisted planning.  Once the surgical plan has been finalised the robotic tool then allows the surgeon to perform the operation with much greater accuracy than is possible using conventional techniques.

Further information regarding the procedure and the aftercare can be found here.