Knee replacement operation is designed to relieve the knee pain for atleast 15 to 20 years and now with newer implants may be 20 to 25 years.The surgery is successful in majority of the patients for long term pain relief and mobility.
A very small percentage of patients in whom the surgery has failed may require Revision (Re – do).
The common causes of Failure are:
- Infection
- Instability
- Polyethylene implant component wear and Loosening
- Stiff knee
- Fractures around the Knee
All these may happen either early or late after the first knee replacement operation.
Symptoms of failure:
- Continuous pain and persistent swelling of the knee joint
- Pain while walking, stair climbing and getting up from chair
- Difficulty in bending the knee and limp while walking
- Continuous pus discharge or non healing of the wound
- The revision surgery includes to remove fully or partly the original knee implant, correcting the existing problem and then using newer revision Knee replacement implants.
- This repairs the problem and in the due course of time the patient recovers satisfactorily.
