Revision Knee Replacements

Revision surgery of the knee (redo surgery) is becoming a more frequent problem as the number of patients with joint replacements continues to rise.

Surgery is often more complex, takes longer, has more complications and requires larger wounds, and specialist equipment and facilities.

The assessment and surgery for these conditions can be extremely demanding and should be performed by surgeons specifically trained to do this work. In experienced hands, results after revision surgery have continued to improve due to better understanding of the problems, better implants, and better equipment.

There is no absolute limit to the number of times a knee can be revised, and what usually stops us is extreme bone or soft tissue loss, persistent infection, or poor health of the patient. Patient recovery takes longer, and often requires expert rehabilitation.

Revision Hip Replacements

Loosening, wearing down or failure of a prosthetic used to be the primary reasons for needing revision hip surgery. However, today's prosthetics last longer than ever before thanks to advances in the materials and engineering used to make them. In most cases, partial and total hip implants can last more than 20 years. However, nothing lasts forever.

Your overall level of activity greatly impacts the life expectancy of your artificial hip. The more active you are, the more likely it is that you may eventually need hip revision surgery. If your implant fails, breaks down, loosens, becomes detached from the bone or infected, your HonorHealth orthopedic surgeon can help determine the cause and whether revision surgery is right for you.

Among the most common reasons for revision hip surgery include:

• Loosening of the components in prosthetics that were originally cemented in place
• Wearing down of a prosthetic's plastic components, causing an adverse reaction to the surrounding tissue
• Recurrent hip dislocation or instability
• Impingement and pain caused by improper placement of the prosthetic
• Fracture of the bone surrounding the prosthetic. Depending on the location and severity of the fracture, your doctor may be able to fix it. If not, the prosthetic may need to be replaced.
• Adverse local tissue reaction caused by an outdated metal-on-metal implant that needs to be removed and replaced with a new prosthesis
• Infection in the bone or tissue near the prosthetic, which generally requires removing the device and curing the infection before implanting a new prosthetic