Sometimes knee joints that have been previously replaced must be replaced again. This can be required for a number of reasons, but common reasons for re-doing the knee replacement include:
- the previous replacement reaching the end of its life and wearing out
- complications developing either early after the original procedure or some years later, such as, infection, the artificial joint working loose from the bone or fractures around the artificial joint.
The three main stages of a revision knee replacement are:
- removal of the existing components and bone cement with minimal damage to the patients bone
- reconstruction of any existing bone loss using by bone graft or other materials
- securely implanting the new components whilst ensuring that the knee is balanced, well aligned and stable
This sort of surgery takes about twice as long as the time taken to perform a first time knee replacement. It also carries significantly increased risks of complications compared to the original joint replacement. These are discussed in detail with our patients prior to their revision procedure.
Re-do surgery is complex and challenging, and the best results are achieved by surgeons who specialise in the various techniques that may be needed to achieve a successful re-do surgery and therefore a well-functioning revision joint replacement. There is also little doubt that the best results are achieved by those who perform this sort of complex surgery regularly. Mr Sood has undergone specialist training in some of the best hospitals in the world to perform complex and revision hip replacement and performs revision joint replacement procedures on average once a week. He is one of fewer than 5% of UK surgeons who perform this number of revision procedures. He prides himself in achieving excellent outcomes for his revision patients, a proportion of whom have already had unsuccessful revision procedures to the same joint performed elsewhere.