An independent audit by the Australian Orthopaedic Association National Joint Replacement Registry has confirmed that Sportsmed has an extremely low revision surgery rate for infection of joint replacements compared to the national average of all other hospitals. The audit covered 19223 joint replacement procedures performed at Sportsmed over 20 years from January 1999 to February 2019.
Every day patients with knee arthritis ask me whether keyhole surgery (knee arthroscopy) would help them. The bottom line is that it is an excellent minor procedure for patients who have symptoms from obstructing lesions in the knee such as a torn meniscus (cartilage shock absorber) or loose body regardless of the presence of underlying arthritis. It is less useful for patients with simple ache from arthritis without any mechanical component. The trick is telling the difference and this requires experience.
Rupture of the Anterior Cruciate Ligament (ACL) is a common injury that can severely effect an athlete’s career and has significant additional financial, physical and emotional consequences outside of sport. The good news is that many of these injuries can be prevented with an ACL prevention program. Unfortunately, most amateur athletes involved in sport at a school or community level are not engaged in these sorts of programs, but progress is being made.
Anyone who has been following my blog will know how much I like computer navigation for knee replacements. I frequently get asked why I am so passionate about it. There are lots of claims being made about new technologies available for knee replacements so making a decision about your knee can be very confusing.
There are several competing techniques available for knee replacement surgery. For the last eight years some Orthopaedic surgeons and implant companies have been heavily marketing so called ‘patient specific’ knee replacement surgery as providing improved accuracy and outcomes. I have been telling my patients that the evidence is simply not there to justify these claims whereas there is good evidence that computer navigation does reduce revision rates in knee replacements.
