Dr. Raj Kanna is a consultant Orthopaedic and Knee surgeon, who have made a mark in the field of Orthopedics with his success stories.
A well done knee replacement surgery usually guarantees a life period of 20 - 25 years. But like any other part, it will undergo wear and tear during this period, which might need another surgery to replace the worn out knee joint. This surgery is called Revision Knee Replacement surgery where the worn out knee joint is replaced with a brand new knee joint.
In some cases, revision knee replacement surgery might be needed if the initial replacement surgery had failed for some reason. With the advent of computer-assisted surgeries, the technical issues have been ironed out and fewer Revision Knee Replacement surgeries are performed to rectify the errors.
Is Infection a cause for an early Revision Knee Replacement surgery? If so, how can we prevent it and then treat it?
Infection can cause early revision surgery but this has a rare chance of causing complications in knee replacement, occurring in less than 1% of the patients. Infection can occur either at home or in a hospital and sometimes it might not occur for many years. An infected artificial knee joint might become stiff and painful. The implant might start losing its attachment to the bone.
We can prevent infection by utilizing the following measures:
We, at Dr. Raj Kanna’s clinic, perform a two-stage procedure for the infected knee, which is a normal procedure followed by most surgeons.
In the first stage,we remove the infected knee and fill it with antibiotic cement spacer. The patient will be provided antibiotics for a minimum period of 3 months. We will then wait for the infection to subside, which might take 6 months and may be a year. In the meantime, the patient can walk and perform routine activities that include the bending of the knees.
After the initial period of six months to a year, we do a set of blood tests to confirm that there is no residual infection. In the second stage, we then remove the cement spacer and put the new knee.
Infection is not the sole reason for Revision Knee Replacement surgery, and it can be caused by other factors like:
These technical or medical issues can be treated by surgery that might include one or more of the following procedures.