OT Robotic Knee Replacement?

[kendall]

I had a partial a year ago to bring my knee up to match the full one and I am very pleased with the result. I used to be bow legged, as it was the inner side of both knees that was most worn. The first was a full replacement with a lining for the patella, but the second has been only partial. The full one bends 118 degrees and the partial is 130 degrees from straight. Its very nice to be able to walk about without pain now and the side affects which I have are well worth putting up with. I have some discomfort when in bed and there is some dermatitus between the knee and ankle.
My partial took 70 minutes with an epidural and no robot in sight and they wouldn't let me watch the proceedings. I was well aware of what was happening as the proceedure is quite physical.
Go for it as soon as you can!

My results were the opposite.
I've always been bow legged, when I had my left knee totally replaced in 2016, the doctor straightened it out so now I have one leg longer than the other.

[reggie_obe]

Thanks for the reply's and getting an appointment with the doctor that does Monday. I will not know until I see him IF I am a candidate for that surgery method.

Always get a second or third opinion. How highly rated in Orthopedics is the Hospital he is affiliated with?
FYI: https://www.hss.edu/condition-list_knee-replacement.asp

[loose nut]

I would have thought that a robots knee could be rebuilt, new bushing and bearings etc, instead of replacing it.

[elf]

Interesting. Never heard of the robotic method. I shattered my tibia plateau a few years back and my knee is killing me right now, every step.

Please keep us informed, I think I am due soon. JR

Don't wait. You'll be amazed at how much better life is when you can walk without pain.

[Cenedd]

At the risk of looking a fool for passing on 2nd hand information, I will...in the hope it's of any help.

My mum had this done at around your age. There are three things I would pass on:

1. From those I talked to before my mum had it done, religiously following the physiotherapy regime after the operation is key to recovering well and getting a good result.

2. It seems that no matter the ability of the surgeon, some people's body's accept the situation happily, heal quickly, are able to do the exercises to rehabilitate and everything is great. Some few - my mother specifically - almost reject the knee and have problems with swelling that break the stiches and prevent doing the rehab. I don't believe this is a large percentage of people and I'm certainly not trying to put you off. Worth asking about the physio aspect of the post-op offering though.

3. Some of it is down to mental attitude. My mum was in agony with bone grinding against bone and very limited range of walking. She does have mobility issues now and bitterly complains that she was "promised" it would be "perfect in just three weeks" and "like a new knee". Obviously none of that is true but it's how she likes to remember it. The truth is though that because she unfortunately fell foul of point 2 and therefore also fell foul of point 1, she isn't running marathons or anything. She is, however, much better than she started and was happily telling me how bad it is and how unfair all the way round a country house and it's gardens (before the pandemic). She cannot/will not see the positive of how much better it is. Point is that if you expect perfection, you are at best going to be satisfied.

Really hope it goes well for you. Make sure you pick a good physio as well! ....and do as they tell you!

[garyhlucas]

I think it is really important to qualify the doctor. If you are not a doctor in the same field you are not qualified to judge, and neither are friendly referals. When I needed Prostate surgery with the robot my oncologist told me to do my homework. What I found was that a surgeon is as good as he will get with it after about 400 surgeries. My doctor had done 25! The guy I found had done 3000 surgeries before me, about 20 a week, and teaches it too.

Same with my eyes, I needed cataract surgery. It is considered one of the most successful operations done, yet 60 percent of the people I talked to about their results were not really happy. The doctors consider it successful if you can still see, not that you have great vision. I asked an optometrist I trusted to help me find a doctor. He checked into a local guy and found out he teaches the procedure at Wills Eye and does research in it too. I got very good results in both cases.

[JRouche]

Don't wait. You'll be amazed at h
ow much better life is when you can walk without pain.

Right? I wish I could afford it, I cant, so I block the pain out.

I used to run, because I liked to. I cant do that anymore.... JR

[fjk]

Regarding robotic assist
still you will want a surgeon who really knows his or her stuff
robots/etc fail

a long time ago a I brain surgeon i knew was working to develop intra-mri brain surgery. During a procedure the mri machine went down. His comment during the procedure was “that’s ok, don’t worry, we’ve done this procedure 1000s of times and this one is no different than before...”. You want a surgeon who can say that when the robot good pffft.

(aside, his work ended up creating https://www.brighamandwomens.org/res...re-room-design ... very cool)

frank