Knee Replacement – Aseptic Loosening

Transcript

Unfortunately, there are many complications that can arise after your knee replacement has been performed, even successfully, years down the road. The two main complications after knee replacement surgery are infection and aseptic loosening of the knee replacement itself. Other common conditions include instability of the knee as well as stiffness. These are the main reasons that require revision potentially after your knee replacement has been performed. Aseptic loosening refers to the bonding between the metal prosthesis, both on the femoral side, as well as the tibial side, the top and bottom of your knee replacement. How it is fixed to the bone. Most knee replacements are performed using a cemented technique, where the femoral and tibial implants are cemented into the bone. Aseptic loosening refers to the debonding of this cement onto the bone. In the absence of infection. We make that distinction because infection alone, in addition to being a reason for revision surgery, can also cause the debonding of the cement to the patient’s bone.