Joint Preservation Knee Surgery at Newcastle Hospital

At Nuffield Health Newcastle Hospital, we have a number of consultants who are experts in this type of surgery, as well as offering knee replacement surgery. This enables them to offer you different choices, which will depend on your medical history, knee symptoms, x-ray findings and realistic goals. Your options will be discussed with you following your consultation, and some options may not be appropriate for everybody.

Why choose joint preservation surgery?

There may be limitations on what you can do after having a total knee replacement. If you still wish to play competitive sport, kneel for long periods or if you are young (under 60) and concerned about the longevity of knee replacement implants, then it may be worth considering joint preservation surgery.

Joint preserving surgery may include the following:

• Knee osteotomy
• Meniscal repair or transplantation
• Cartilage replacement surgery
• Micro-fracture surgery
• nSTRIDE® APS

Knee osteotomy

Osteotomy is usually performed when only one side of your knee is damaged. The bones around your knee are re-aligned to alter the forces passing through your knee and unload the damaged part of your knee. To achieve this, your consultant will perform a controlled break to the end of your thigh bone, the top of your shin bone, or very occasionally to both. This break allows for re-alignment to occur, and once the alignment is optimised, the bone will be held in its new position with strong plates and screws. Effectively your body weight is shifted towards the healthier cartilage within your knee, thus preserving your native knee joint for as long as possible.

Meniscal repair or transplantation

Healthy meniscal tissues are vital to the function of the knee and this is jeopardised when your meniscus is injured or torn. Repair of the meniscal tissue may be possible or, in some cases, the meniscal tissue can be replaced through transplantation techniques when appropriately sized donor tissue can be identified.

Cartilage replacement surgery

Joint cartilage can be replaced if it has become reduced in thickness over time. Options range from using injection therapy to improve cartilage growth, through to transporting healthy cartilage from other areas of the knee into areas where the cartilage is less healthy.

Micro-fracture surgery

Micro-fracture surgery is a technique used to regenerate cartilage and this can be used if there are symptomatic areas of the knee. This surgery involves the creation of small holes in the exposed bony surfaces to generate a healing response which promotes the growth of new cartilage tissue. If appropriate this healing response may be augmented with cartilage membranes sutured or glued into place.

nSTRIDE® APS

nSTRIDE® is a small injection into your knee joint of good proteins concentrated from your own blood. It's designed to alleviate pain and bring balance back to your inflamed knee. These good proteins can block the bad proteins which are responsible for the inflammatory condition in your joint. Other good proteins can then contribute to the health of your cartilage. Find out more.

Consultants offering joint preservation surgery at Newcastle Hospital