Robotic Assisted MAKO Partial Knee Replacement

Most partial knee replacement operations involve replacing the joint surface at the end of your thigh bone (femur) and the joint surface at the top of your shin.

What is Robotic Assisted MAKO Partial Knee Replacement?

Partial knee replacements are often referred to as half knee or unicompartmental knee replacements.

There are advantages in performing an operation only on the compartment in which the osteoarthritis is severe if there are localised symptoms and this situation is encountered most commonly with osteoarthritis involving the medial compartment where a medial partial knee replacement is performed (Video B).

The lateral and patellofemoral compartments (Figure F and I) can also be replaced but these are less commonly performed operations.

Mr Bell has been involved in clinical research for robotic knee surgery including a randomised controlled study which identified improvement in the accuracy in the placements of robotic assisted partial knee replacements (Improved accuracy of component positioning with robotic-assisted unicompartmental knee arthroplasty, Bell SW et al. Journal of the Bone and Joint Surgery America). Clinical studies for robotic surgery have identified quicker recovery from surgery and less pain following the operation

Mr Bell has a specialist interest in robotic knee total and partial knee replacements.

Partial Knee Patient Information Sheet Download (PDF)

Risks of surgery

The risks of serious complications of infection and clots in a blood vessel (thromboembolism) occurs in just under 1% of people.

The success rates vary depending on the compartment being replaced but the success rates are between 80 and 90% in people having a medial partial knee replacement. It is important to realise that some people have ongoing pain and symptoms despite having surgery.

If at the time of the operation the knee can be fully assessed and if the osteoarthritis is more extensive than the preoperative x-rays and scan has identified, then a Toal Knee Replacement can still be performed at that time and this occurs in roughly 1 in 20 surgeries.

There is a risk of inadvertent damage to another structure such as the bone (fracture), damage to nerves and blood vessels (neurovascular injury) and injuries to ligaments. There injuries are rare with conventical knee replacements. With robotic assisted replacements there are boundaries set around the edges of the bone to prevent the instruments moving out with pre-determined areas and this adds an additional level or safety to the surgery.

There is a chance of knee stiffness or instability feelings after the surgery. One of the advantages of the partial knee replacements is less of the knee joint surfaces are replaced and the 4 ligaments of the knee are retained during the procedure and so the knee often feels more like a normal knee with more people experiencing a high functioning outcome.

With any surgical procedure some people can have medical complications at the time of the operation. You will be screened for this at the pre-operative assessment clinic to minimise any risks.

In the future some people require the replacement to be changed over to a total knee replacement (revision surgery). The revision rates with medial partial knee replacements are higher compared to total knee replacements and are roughly 10% of people go on to have another surgery by 10 years.

Video B – Insertion of a partial knee replacement

Figure M – Planning for partial knee replacement

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