Minimally invasive knee replacement
Minimally Invasive Knee Replacement
Minimally Invasive Knee Replacement is the same total knee replacement performed through smaller cuts.
Traditionally Knee Replacements were performed through very large cuts that could be anywhere up to 30cm in length. Approxiamately 25 years ago Orthopaedic Surgeons started trying to decrease the length of the incisions (cuts in the skin). The aim of this was to decrease not just the skin cuts but the size of the muscle cuts.
By making the muscle cuts smaller less damage is done to the muscles and a quicker recovery is made.
Professor Papantoniou has been performing minimally invasive Total Knee Replacements for many years.
Not everyone is suitable for this procedure.
Generally the length of the skin cut depends an many factors and Professor paantoniou will perform an appropriate cut for each individual patient.
The principles of minimally invasive surgery however still apply no matter what the size of the skin cut.
Professor Papantoniou aims to minimise the damage to the thigh muscles to enable the earliest possible recovery.
In combination with a Subvastus Approach to the knee (which does not cut the muscles but lifts them off their origins) Professor Papantoniou has minimal muscle damage which allows patients to have almost immediate control of their thigh muscles.
This allows patients to get up and walk around 4 hours after their Total Knee Replacement. They are able to eat and drink on return to the ward and most patients can go home the next day to their Family and friends.
A/Professor Papantoniou treats disorders of the Adult Lumbar Spine.
At different stages in our lives various lumbar spine problems can occur.
In the young adult acute disc prolapses (slipped discs) can occur. These are often found in manual workers.
As we get older other problems can present themselves.
Arthritis can occur in the spine, as well as other parts of the skeleton. Facet joint arthritis or disc problems can lead to lower back pain or eventually spinal canal stenosis.
Instability of the lumbar spine can occur for various reasons from facet joint arthritis to pars interarticularis defects.
A/Professor Papantoniou treats these degenerative disorders of the Adult Lumbar Spine individually as is appropriate for each patient and their condition.
Often time and non-operartive measures such as diet, exercise, physiotherapy and cortisone (steroid) injections will be able to control the pain without requiring surgery.