Your experiences with Jiffy Knee replacement?

Jiffy Knee is a branded version of a method called "subvastus". Subvastus and midvastus methods are "minimally invasive" methods designed to not cut and sever the muscle and tendon thereby creating less trauma. They do give a less complete field of work for the surgeon so they require more training.

I call my surgeon a magician and he spends about 20% of his surgical time doing revisions of other surgeons' work. A few months ago I was chatting with him and mentioned that a friend of mine was scheduled for a Jiffy Knee and asked him what he thought. He replied that it all depended upon the surgeon. I told him the name of the Scottsdale surgeon and he responded that he has seen no problem from that surgeon (a compliment). My magician's three principal requirements for a knee replacement surgeon are: extensive experience doing the exact procedure, great hands and a great mind.

A subset of the "exact procedure" for me was a subvastus or midvastus method, no routine use of a tourniquet, and a Functional (or at least kinematic or inverse kinematic) alignment. I had one additional request but it was for a procedure so rare that less than 1% of all replacement surgeries do it: a bicruciate retaining implant ("BCR"). As it happened, my magician is one of the very few who both does them and has done lots of them.

So I had a mini midvastus method, no use of a tourniquet, a BCR, a Functional alignment and a plastic surgery close. My surgeon's recovery protocol is the essentially rest for the first two weeks to help the inflammation to subside (with lots of ice and compression) and commence PT in the third week. That week my therapist measured my ROM at 122.

Incidentally, my friend's hip started bothering him and he called his Jiffy Knee surgeon for an appointment and was told that he now limited his practice to knee replacements.

In my view, not only do TKRs follow the bell curve, so do hip/knee surgeons. A few are outliers on the positive side (extraordinary), a few should have their licenses removed, and the bulk of them fall somewhere in the middle. My suggestion is to first focus on finding that great surgeon, then see if his practice is one you like.

Thanks so much for your advice!! Now I just need to figure out how to measure and judge a surgeon.

@bjw1948

You have hit the nail on the head. A few ideas:

1) If you have doctors you trust, ask them who they and their immediate family use for knee issues. Doctors may be incentived to refer patients to particular groups of specialists but will go to the best for their families.

2) Look for a surgeon who does a significant part of his practice doing revisions. Revisions are usually more complex so not everyone does them. But...many do and many of them shouldn't.

3) Look for a surgeon with a surgical waiting list. A surgeon who doesn't have a waiting list is likely a surgeon you don't want (he might be a great surgeon just starting off but remember that one of my requirements is extensive experience doing the exacct procedure.

4) Is he at one of the centers of excellence (Mayo, Cleveland, Scripps, Hospital for Special Surgery, etc.)? These facilities tend to have excellent physicians although the very best might be out on their own.

5) If you have a doctor you really, really trust, ask her about the best knee replacement surgeons in the area.

6) Does he advertise? I would never select a professional who has to advertise to get clients.

7) Does he have a travel practice and does his website advance that practice? For example, my magician has a page on his website where he sets forth the practice guidelines for people flying in to have him do the procedure. Few surgeons would bother doing this if they didn't have patients flying in to have them operate.

8) Look for scientific papers authored by the surgeon. Read them and read the citations to these papers to see how they were received. My three immediate requirements: extensive experience, great mind, great hands. These go to the great mind category.

I am sure there are others as well. Try to create a mental Venn diagram of where they intersect.

Steve, bjw should go to see your magician. You could private message the doctor's name to bjw, or just tell all of us

@gently,
I wonder if this support group is allowed to share recommendations and contact info of an especially proficient doctor??

@steveinarizona

I have had 2 Jiffy Knee replacements in the last 6 months and am so happy with the whole procedure. I love my surgeon; his communication was so wonderful. He really listens! I agree with everyone about checking out the doctor. But don’t forget to check in with your health insurance guys and be sure you’re covered. Also, do the physical therapy! Good luck to you!

👍

@bjw1948 I
I searched for over 10 years doing everything to avoid TKR—-gel shots, PT, salves for pain. So, when I finally surrendered, now 15 years, I consulted with 5 surgeons. If I didn’t feel comfortable for any reason, I decided to go to Mass General 3 hours. No regrets and I am 4 months out and doing wonderful

@gently

Caveat: He doesn't take medicare nor insurance. I had to pay his fee separately. The rest was covered by my insurance but as @zoe252 pointed out, make sure your insurance would cover the rest.
https://www.chowhipandknee.com/

Thank you for the important and valuable information!