Total Knee Replacement

Total Knee Replacement

A paper presented at the 25th annual meeting of the American Association of Hip and Knee Surgeons in November 2015, reviewed the complications following bilateral simultaneous total knee replacement versus bilateral staged, i.e., separate dates total knee replacement. Dr. Sheth and colleagues reviewed over 11,000 patients from an integrated health system joint registry program. They found overall death rates and complications for both the simultaneous and staged group were quite rare. They concluded there is no increased risk of revision, infection or death or complications in bilateral simultaneous versus staged total knee replacement. This agrees with our indications for patients with bilateral simultaneous total knee replacement which includes patient’s under the age of 70, normal weight, without a history of cardiac or pulmonary problems. In appropriately selected individuals, the overall total recovery can be shortened by doing both knees at once, but patients need to be in excellent health and appropriate weight to accomplish this safely.

About The Author

William Barrett, MD is a fellowship trained orthopedic surgeon who specializes in primary and revision hip and knee replacement. He performs over 500 hip and knee replacement procedures each year. He is actively involved in clinical research on Anterior Approach Total Hip Replacement (THA), Alternative Bearings for THA, Less Invasive Approaches to joint replacement and use of computerized vs. custom cutting guides for knee replacement. As a nationally recognized joint replacement surgeon, he lectures globally on hip and knee replacement topics. He is active in the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons Continuing Medical Education programs. He is a board examiner for the American Board of Orthopaedic Surgery.