We all have two knees, and these are the parts of our body which shoulder a lot of the body’s weight. Not only that, they also bend and flex in such a way that mobility can be provided to the body. Because of this tremendous workload, surgical procedures on knees are much more common than, say, shoulder replacement Hobart.
There are several surgical procedures carried out on knees, which could be in order to correct pain, swelling, tearing, fetal development, or cartilage damage. The type of surgery needed would depend on whether there is meniscus involvement, or anthroscopies required, or ligament and tendon involvement, or simply the requirement of knee replacement Tasmania.
When the core problem is the development of some defect in the meniscus, then any one of three options are chosen by the surgical team. They could carry out meniscectomy in which that part of the meniscus which is torn or damaged is removed by making small incisions to the knee. Often the blood supply to the affected area is good enough for a repair procedure to be carried out with removal or replacement. Finally, if the complete meniscus is to be removed, then a transplant procedure is carried out by the knee surgeon Hobart. A healthy donor needs to be found, and this procedure of transplanting the meniscus is carried out by arthroscopy.
These arthroscopies often have several aspects according to the ailment of the patient. For example, a procedure of plica removal could be carried out when there is excess plica due to fetal development. When the lateral retinaculum is tighter than needed, there could be a pain in the patella, which is resolved by carrying out lateral release. Finally, an orthopedic surgeon Hobart might be needed to look at cases of microfracture due to cartilage damage.
When there is the involvement of ligaments and tendons, then repair and reconstruction are the only two options available. The ligament called ACL (anterior cruciate ligament) is one the most important constituents of the knee, and this has to be reconstructed when it becomes weak. Repair could also be needed for the damaged tendons. Just like hip surgeons carry out Anterior Hip replacement in Hobart, knee specialists can also carry out total knee replacements when the quality of the knee has deteriorated to a large extent.
All of these procedures can be carried out in a good quality facility like Watson Orthopaedics.
