Total Knee Replacement And Diabetes

 

Age related degeneration of the knee joint is a common entity and this is technically known as osteoarthritis. The degeneration (wear and tear) of the soft articular cartilage (the smooth tissue which is present at the end of the bones where the bones glide over each other) begins in the early years, however, the body’s repair process is more than the degeneration, as the age advances the repair process naturally reduces and the wear and tear remains the same. The degeneration of the knee joint can increase if there has been previous injury to the articular surface like a joint fracture, tuberculosis, and long term increased weight of the person.

Diabetes and surgery- 

Diabetes also slightly increases the risk of early degeneration though it is very less. The early treatment of age related osteoarthritis is reduction of weight in overweight people, mild pain and swelling reducing medications, neutraceuticals (cartilage protecting medicines injections), brace and exercises. When all of the above fail to relieve the knee pain and when the knee pain makes it too painful to walk or climb stairs without pain and specifically when there is even at rest then a surgical option could be considered. The degeneration often produces bow legs at an early stage in certain people. High tibial osteotomy (correction of the bow legs only), or only a unicondylar knee replacement (only one part of the knee is replaced), can be considered. Most often in India many patients wait too long and by the time they approach the surgeon both the compartments of the knee are grossly damaged; and then the only solution remaining to consider is a Total Knee Replacement (TKR).  TKR consists of removing the damaged cartilage and replacing it with a high quality medical grade plastic on the leg side and metal of the thigh bone side.

People with diabetes often require special care and counseling before they undergo a TKR. This surgery, like any other surgery that comes with risks and they may be more pronounced if one has diabetes. This is particularly true if the patient undergoes surgery when his HbA1c (average blood glucose level for past three months), blood levels are more than 7.5.

 

 

 

 

Related posts

Leave a Reply

avatar