The figure below shows the range of motion and stability parameters of a knee before replacement surgery. It confirms a varus (bowed) knee with poor movement.
I recently travelled to Chengdu, China for the recent APAS (Asia Pacific Arthroplasty Society) meeting. This was an international meeting, hosted by the West China University Hospital and co-chaired by Prof Pei Fuxing. I was privileged to co-chair the scientific committee where a prestigious international faculty from the U.S., U.K, China, Korea, Pakistan and India, as well as Australia met to discuss latest trends and current thinking in hip and knee replacement. A particular emphasis of the APAS 2014 meeting was to highlight the education of orthopaedic joint replacement surgeons in China, India and other parts of the rapidly growing Asian orthopaedic community.
When performing Total Knee Replacement it is important to have the implants well aligned. This enables the weight bearing axis to fall evenly through the implant, and thus ensure its longevity.
Isolated osteoarthritis of the Patello-Femoral Joint (PFJ) is a common source of pain and disability for a wide range of patients. It can affect patients in their teens all the way through adulthood. In most cases, the osteoarthritis develops as a consequence of patello-femoral maltracking, dysplasia or imbalance, and has often been associated with anterior knee pain or instability for most of the patient’s adult life. There is often a strong family history, and it is not uncommon to treat 3 generations of the same family with different stages of the condition.
Many patients suffer from bilateral knee osteoarthritis and want to consider having the surgery in one go, rather than as two separate procedures. As with most things there are pros and cons to this question.
Hip Replacement Technology – Bearings
At the heart of every hip replacement is the bearing, or ball and socket joint. Originally the bearing choice was very simple. You could only have a metal femoral head (or ball) on polyethylene cup (or socket) bearing. This was the bearing that English orthopaedic surgeon, Sir John Charnley settled upon when he popularised total hip replacement in the 1960’s. Over the following two decades it became clear that despite the great benefits of hip replacement, there were problems related to wear of the implant, particularly in younger or higher demand patients. This wear would often lead to debris within the prosthetic joint. As wear debris accumulated, the body produced inflammatory cells in an effort to neutralise the effects of the wear particles. This inflammatory respons
