Australian
surgeons have pioneered a radical procedure for knee replacements, which
for the first time can be done using keyhole surgery. According to medical
professionals, it lessons the impact of surgery and dramatically improves
the recovery time.
Douglas
Blanchonette is one of 20,000 Australians undergoing knee replacements
each year, a legacy of plenty of sport and age-related arthritis.
"I
thought I was bulletproof when I was young," the knee replacement
patient said.
In recent
years, a trend to do partial knee replacements has resulted in smaller
and smaller incisions. But now, Australian surgeon Ray Randle has developed
a world first.
Using virtually
a keyhole surgery technique, assisted by a camera on what's called an
arthroscope, a hole about two centimetres is all that is needed to insert
the partial knee replacement.
"By
using this technique we don't disturb any deep soft tissues or muscle
and that means there's less swelling and that the patient's recovery
is much faster," said orthopaedic surgeon, Dr Ray Randle.
The Australian
team developed special instruments to make the new procedure possible,
recently demonstrated at the biggest orthopaedic conference in America.
Here, surgeons
were so impressed that they have ordered the first run of instruments.
However, they, and Australian surgeons, will need special training before
the procedure is generally available.
"There's
no doubt it's technically more difficult than doing it through an open
cut, but it is certainly a win for the patient," said Dr Randle.
Patient
Lorraine Leuckel was mobile just 48 hours after surgery.
"It's
all fixed, none of the dramatic pain compared to the heartache that
I thought I was going to be going through," she said.
Contact
Keyhole-arthroscopically assisted partial knee replacement:
Gold Coast Orthopaedic Surgeon
Dr Ray Randle
John Flynn Medical Centre
Inland Drive TUGUN
Ph: (07) 5598 0094
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