New MAKOplasty® Offers Hope to Osteoarthritis Sufferers

For those suffering from mid-stage osteoarthritis, a new procedure called a MAKOplasty® provides a minimally invasive alternative to total knee replacement that may offer a quicker return to normal activities.

MAKOplasty® Partial Knee Resurfacing is designed to offer faster recovery and improved outcomes for patients with joint degeneration in one or multiple parts of the knee. By selectively targeting the portion of the knee that has been damaged by osteoarthritis, surgeons can resurface the damaged area without compromising the healthy bone and tissue surrounding it.

A traditional total knee replacement procedure involves replacing the whole knee joint with a prosthesis. The surgeon exposes the knee compartment and removes the ends of the femur (thigh bone) and tibia (shin bone) and replaces them with artificial components, usually made from steel or titanium alloys with a medical-grade polyethylene surface. While highly successful in most cases, this is a serious procedure that normally requires quite a long recovery time because it involves a relatively large amount of bone and tissue loss.

With MAKOplasty®, only the diseased surfaces of the knee joint are replaced. And as the procedure is done using the RIO® Robotic Arm Interactive Orthopedic System, which offers a level of precision not normally seen in traditional approaches, bone and tissue loss is minimized for a faster recovery.

At Orthopedic Associates of Port Huron, we find that the MAKOplasty® procedure offers certain patients comparable stability and quality of life to that of a total knee replacement, but with significantly reduced recovery times. We perform MAKOplasty® at St. Joseph Mercy Hospital in Port Huron and are one of only a few orthopedic groups in the state to offer the procedure.

For more information on osteoarthritis or the MAKOplasty® procedure, call Orthopedic Associates of Port Huron at (810) 985-4900.