PKR: In the Hospital
The patient is taken to the operating room and put under general anesthesia and placed on the operating table in a special configuration for partial knee resurfacing surgery. After the knee is sterilely draped about a 5 millimeter incision is made through which an arthroscope is placed into the knee joint to inspect the knee. In about five to ten percent of cases set up for a partial knee the opposite compartment will be found to have serious cartilage degeneration that was unexpected from the pre-operative x-rays. At that point, taking into consideration the patient’s age, weight, activity level, and medical condition, the surgeon makes a decision whether to go ahead with a partial knee or to do a total knee replacement. If partial knee is done the procedure takes about 45 minutes to an hour to finish. It is done in a bloodless field with a tourniquet on the thigh as to minimize bleeding and allow proper visualization. The procedure is finished and the tourniquet is released. The patient is taken to the recovery room for about an hour. After being transported back to the orthopaedic floor the patient then undergoes a physical therapy treatment in the afternoon where the patient is allowed to stand and walk down the hall. Some patient’s are allowed to go home later that evening if they are doing very well, although most will spend the night and go home the following day. Pain control is usually fairly easy the first night and self-administered intervenous doses of morphine along with oral pain medication that are administered as needed. The following morning the drain in the knee is removed and another physical therapy session is performed by the patient and therapist. The patient is then discharged after that physical therapy session.
