Knee Replacement Surgery, the Next Generation

As today's generation lives longer, more active lives than ever before it is likely that many more individuals will be faced with some type of knee preserving procedure. Fortunately, medical engineers together with orthopedic specialists are working to provide more options than have previously existed.

Some of these advances have resulted in less invasive partial knee replacement procedures, which preserve the healthy parts of the knee joint and replace only that which is damaged.

As research over the years began revealing a correlation between gender and the way a knee joint is worn, joint replacement implants became gender specific - improving long term wear and comfort. Today, partial knee replacement has become even more specific to provide not only gender but also custom-made prosthetics based on each patient's individual knee.

Dr. Kaare Kolstad, head team doctor for the Houston Dynamo through the Methodist Center for Orthopaedic Surgery, is performing these customized partial knee replacement procedures using the Personalized Partial Knee Implant system by ConforMIS.

Patients determined to be good candidates for this type of implant are sent for a CT scan. The scan is then sent to engineers, who begin developing your personalized partial knee implant - a process that takes approximately six weeks. The personalized prosthetic is sent to the hospital prior to your surgery.

Source: Some of this information was obtained by ConforMIS, www.conformis.com.

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