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Lateral Approach Total Knee Replacement
Joint Replacements | Last Active: Nov 30 10:41pm | Replies (30)Comment receiving replies
I am VERY interested in this procedure. Please let me know which location of Advanced Ortho & Spine so I can further research. I have been looking into Jiffy Knee Replacement (cheesy name, I know), but seems like a lot of folks are opting for it. Anyway, I came across a video on YouTube by a surgeon in Australia touting the advantages of LATERAL incision (vs. MEDIAL which JKR uses). If your interest is piqued, there are Facebook groups with plenty of discussion on JKR.
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@anemonejane
There is little new sometimes. Lateral approach just means doming in from the side as opposed to the top. Subvastus, including Jiffy Knee, does the same thing.
I distrust most professionals who advertise. Really good professionals don't need to advertise. The ones who do often make a lot of money playing off of the lack of knowledge of the readers.
The same thing has been happening in knee arthroplasties: Jiffy Knee; Nano Knee; lateral approach, etc. The lateral approach has been around for a long, long time. You can have a good Jiffy Knee or Nano Knee surgeon but I suspect that many of them are simply living off the name and advertising and are not anyone I would let inside my body.
It appears that the lateral approach is advisable for non severe valgus deformities:
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0972978X23002982
The article below shows the various approaches:
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC12401512/.
My surgeon used the mini midvastus method. I think it is more important to find a surgeon with great hands and a great mind than to focus solely on the initial cut. There is a lot more to a TKR than that. What kind of implant is used? What material is it made of? Has it had any recalls? Is your surgeon using a posterior stabilized or cruciate retaining implant? Does your surgeon use a robot assistant? Does your surgeon routinely use a tourniquet (I sincerely hope not)? Does your surgeon still do a mechanical alignment (I hope not; Newer approaches are kinematic, inverse kinematic and Functional. I was severely misaligned and I had a Functional alignment.)? Etc.
I focus on the most important ones of these: method of cut, no tourniquet, non mechanical alignment, use of a robot. Most importantly, how often the surgeon has done the procedure that I want done on me.
My keys were that I wanted to retain my ligaments (a rare bicruciate retaining implant or BCR), have a minimally invasive method, and have a Functional alignment and I wanted a surgeon who was extensively experienced in all of that. I got all of that and came out of the surgery with a new knee, all of my ligaments, and no post surgical pain.