Your surgeon has recommended that you have a partial knee replacement (or unicompartmental knee) operation because you have arthritis that has caused damage to one part of your knee joint.
The aim of the implantation of the partial knee joint is to alleviate pain, restore the natural function and mobility of the knee and to return the patient to near normal activities. Nevertheless, a partial knee replacement will never be able to completely replicate the function of the knee joint.
Your doctor will explain the operation and its course in advance, and tell you as well what type of knee implant will be used. The exact condition of the joint however will only become evident during the intervention itself. It is therefore possible that your doctor will have to deviate from the operating procedure discussed.
A partial knee procedure only replaces the damaged compartment* of the knee and preserves the healthy structures such as bone, cartilage and ligaments that have been unaffected by the disease process.
By treating the arthritis at an early stage, where it has not progressed to the entire joint, functional outcomes and natural knee movement can be more completely restored.
*Surgeons tend to consider knees as having three compartments.
The medial compartment: the femur and tibia on the inside of the knee.
The lateral compartment: between the femur and the tibia on the outside of the knee.
The patellofemoral compartment: between the back of the patella/knee cap and the front of the femur or trochlea.
