Anne Marie Tiernon/Eyewitness News
Baby boomers are driving the demand for total knee procedures. They are popular, but so are partial knee replacements, with 30,000 of the surgeries recorded a year. With a product from an Indiana company, the role of the partial knee procedure is evolving into more than just a temporary fix.
"When I went up a flight of stairs I'd have to watch left leg because it would give out on me and I'd fall down," said Garland Christ, 59.
Now six weeks after a partial knee replacement, stairs are no longer a worry for Christ, an Alexandria resident. He can go up and down and put weight on his knee.
His doctor, David Graybill of Central Indiana Orthopedics, recommended a partial knee product used for decades in Europe.
"The Oxford is unique," said Graybill.
Graybill says the old role of the partial knee replacement was a simply a bridge to a total knee, but with Biomet's Oxford knee, "They've got very good survival rates out beyond 15 years."
The worn cartilage on the inside of Garland's knee was replaced with a plastic device which glides freely throughout a knee's range of motion.. Preserving the kinematics is what Graybill partially credits for the longevity in European patients.
Picking a partial knee cut Garland's hospital stay by two thirds, with just one overnight stay.
"The nurses told my wife the day I got out of the hospital they never seen somebody that wanted to get out of there so bad it wasn't funny," laughed Christ.
Therapy is cut from eight to 12 weeks to six to weight. But the bottom line for Garland is moving freely without pain. "I can do more of what I couldn't do before," he said.
The key here is selecting the right patient. The ACL and other ligaments have to be intact and the arthritis confined to one area. This is a bone conserving, less-invasive procedure. Garland Christ is now undergoing tests to see if his right knee is a good candidate too.
