Knee replacement surgery is a big process to go through and this surgery is conventionally extremely invasive. But now there have been modifications in the surgery and minimally invasive knee replacement surgery has been found. Here are some things you should know about minimally invasive knee replacement surgery before going to a knee doctor.

What Is A Minimally Invasive Knee Replacement Surgery?

The conventional knee replacement surgery is a very invasive process, but it was necessary to carry out, when people were experiencing excruciating pain in their knees due to either injury or bone diseases like arthritis or osteoporosis.

The main difference between general and minimally invasive knee replacement surgery is the size of the incision the surgeon makes to work with your injured knee.

In traditional knee replacement surgery, the size of the incision was 8 to 12 inches, which allowed the surgeon to have sound precision and reach to the knee. But with minimally invasive knee replacement surgery, the size of the incision has been dropped to almost 3 to 6 inches.

The reason for this drop in size of incision is the modern technology that helps the surgeon to carry out the surgery with a much less and painful incision size. The injured knee cap is taken out and then a metal prosthetic is placed in the knee cap position. This is now deemed as your new knee cap.

Another major difference between the general and minimally invasive surgery is that in the less invasive process, muscles and soft tissues are pushed aside, but in general knee replacement surgery, the muscles and tendons are cut through to make way for the surgeon to go in deep.

Procedure Of Minimally Invasive Knee Replacement Surgery

The patient is generally put under anesthesia and the incision is made. As mentioned above, the surgeon makes much of a smaller sized incision as compared to the general knee replacement surgery. After the incision has been made, the soft tissues, muscles and tendons are pushed aside rather than cut through. The surgeon reaches the knee and with some tools, the knee is detached and it is taken out and replaced with a metal prosthetic which is medically safe and the steel is of a medical grade.

Afterwards, the prosthetic is placed in position and the muscles and tendons and pushed back in place. The incision is stitched and the patient is taken to wear off the anesthesia. If knee pain occurs post-surgery, then heavy pain medication is prescribed to the patient.

Pros Of Minimally Invasive Knee Replacement Surgery

Let’s talk about the pros and cons of the minimally invasive knee replacement surgery.

• The incision is quite small, so it is deemed less painful and manipulative.
• The tissues, muscles and tendons are in place and they are not damaged or cut through during the surgery.
• The process is a lot quicker than a normal knee replacement surgery. A normal knee replacement surgery takes a few hours to complete whereas the less invasive knee replacement surgery takes 2 hours tops from start to finish.
• Since the incision is small, there is no blood loss, hence there is little to no need for a blood transfusion. This makes the whole process a lot more quick and easier to manage.
• The recovery time is also fast, since the incision is small. It takes less than a week for the incision to fuse up.

Cons Of Minimally Invasive Knee Replacement Surgery

• Not every knee surgeon is well informed about how the surgery goes. This type of surgery requires special medical training to allow the surgeon to replace the entire knee cap with a small opening and no cutting of muscles, tissues and tendons.
• It is generally more expensive than a conventional knee replacement surgery. It is for a reason, because the expertise required for this surgery is not possessed by every and any surgeon out in the world. It is still a new form of surgery in the medical world.

There you have it! With knowing the good and bad things about minimally invasive knee replacement surgery, you can determine for yourself whether the surgery is worth it or not. However, the opinion of your knee specialist Woodbridge is also very important.