Knee Disorders

Treatment Options

Patello-femoral Replacement
Patello-femoral replacement is an alternative surgical treatment for patients who have isolated arthritis under their kneecap (in the patellofemoral joint). Often, such patients will complain about pain in the front of their knee, difficulty squatting, difficulty walking up stairs. They also may have pain with long period of sitting (also called the "Theater Sign"). The idea with patellofemoral replacement is to replace only the damaged part of the knee and to leave the healthy parts untouched. This has the potential to maintain the normal relative motion of the femur relative to the tibia in the knee joint. This may lead to more knee stability and a higher degree of function that can be achieved with total knee replacements.

The other advantage of doing the isolated patellofemoral replacement is that it avoids some of the other complications of knee replacements such as loosening of the larger metal prostheses using in total knee replacements. The patellofemoral replacement can usually be performed through a smaller skin incision, with shorter operative time, lower blood loss, and a slightly shorter hospital stay. The downside to the procedure is that over time the other parts of the knee can wear out, potentially necessitating a conversion to a total knee replacement. Fortunately, these conversions can usually be performed with relatively little bone loss and with the routine total knee replacement implants