The surgery

Anesthesia

A short general anesthesia (approximately 1h) combined with a short acting loco-regional anesthesia is favoured, so the patient will not feel any pain and does not have to consciously experience the operation. In kneeclinic.be we favour a multimodal approach, this means that we strive for optimal comfort (=no pain) without the disadvantages of nausea or vomiting afterwards.

The surgery itself

An incision between 10 to 15 cm through the skin is sufficient to implant a knee prosthesis. The joint is opened without cutting muscles and the bones become visible. The damaged and remaining cartilage overlying the surfaces of the bones is removed with special, extremely accurate measuring instruments. This happens in several steps so the geometry of the implant perfectly matches the individual bony anatomy of the femur and the tibia. The amount of native cartilage or bone removed should be the same thickness of the implant: 8mm. Balancing the ligaments of the knee withing a 1mm range is the most important step during the surgical procedure as this will determin the final result and satisfaction of the patient.

LIA (Local Infiltration Analgesia) protocol

The operation lasts approximately 45 minutes to one hour. At the end of the surgical procedure a local anesthetic is injected. This allows the patient to wake up in the recovery room without pain and to be able to move the leg straight away. This is very important as it will avoid complications like deep venous trombosis.