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Hospital

1.Chettinad super specialty hospital
Kelambakkam, Rajiv Gandhi road, Kanchipuram district, near Chennai
Tamilnadu, India
T.+91 9176640002 (personal mobile)

Clinic

27, 1st avenue, Besant nagar 
Chennai 600090, India
Mobile: 91 9176640002 & 9282165002

Uni-compartmental / Partial Knee replacement guide

Partial Knee Replacement 
Partial / Unicompartmental / Uni condylar knee replacement syn Knee resurfacing is performed for partial knee arthritis. Osteo-arthritis usually affects one of the three compartments of the knee. Commonly the inner or medial compartment is the first to be affected. Often times the damage in the inner compartment spreads to involve the knee cap or patello femoral joint. Rarely the damage may begin in the outer half of the knee in patients with knock knees. Patients with symptomatic partial knee arthritis may benefit from a partial knee replacement / resurfacing. 

 To understand what a uni condylar replacement means is, you will need to understand the anatomy of the knee. The knee joint actually contains three compartments, the inner half, the outer half and the knee cap at the front. In many middle aged patients the arthritic process starts in the inner half. It therefore makes sense to replace only this portion alone. Rarely the outer half alone or lateral compartment is alone affected. Each compartment or a combination of two compartments can be replaced. For eg: one replace the inner or halves or do a patello-femoral replacement for knee cap arthritis. The surgeon could replace the inner and patello-femoral compartments with a bi compartmental knee. The surgeon verifies that the other two compartments are normal of just affected by minor damage only before performing a uni-condylar knee replacement. Commonly a medial uni-condylar knee replacement is done. In this operation the inner half alone is replaced with a prosthesis.

To be eligible for a partial knee, the patient should fulfill three criteria,
a) The inner half alone should be affected
b) The ACL should be intact
c) The deformity should be mild not exceeding 15 degrees of varus.

 

 Partial Knee Replacement
Partial Knee Replacement

Two groups of patients may benefit from a Uni-condylar knee
1) Patient in their fifties with partial arthritis in whom a Uni-condylar knee replacement can postpone a  TKR by ten to fifteen years
2) A patient in the eighties for whom this is the only operation that will be required.

The advantages of a partial knee replacement are
1) Less morbidity. The operation can be done through small incisions as long as only three inches3 inches long incision for MIS Uni knee
2) Less blood loss occurs as Healthy bone and cartilage is not damaged during the surgery.
3) The range of movement is almost like a normal knee. Fig shows small sized incisions for a partial knee replacement.
4) Quicker recovery as there is less poet operative pain due to the small incision
5) Knee feels more normal as the ligaments are preserved.

The Oxford knee from Biomet is the uni- condylar knee with the longest follow up and success rate.

See a video of a patient with simultaneous bilateral Oxford knee replacements.

If you think that a partial knee replacement is the right procedure for you, please e mail us at drvenkat@kneeindia.com.