Total knee replacement- further deterioration within 2 years

Moomin

Hello,

I posted on here a few years ago as my mum had a total knee replacement. When she had it done, she went through the expected post-surgery pain etc. She did a lot of physio as recommended by her consultant. The consultant was very pleased with the outcome of the surgery.

After the surgery my mum felt that the original osteoarthritis pain had gone, but obviously there was a lot of pain resulting from the surgery. Several months later, she said she'd started to feel that some of the pain was going away. At the time, the surgeon had said he was very pleased with how it had all gone for my mum - she had a good knee bend and the x-ray showed the op having gone perfectly.

However, the pain never totally went and more recently has got worse. Initially, when my mum spoke to her consultant about this (7-8 months post surgery), he did more x-rays and couldn't find anything wrong. We just thought the knee can take a long time (1+ years'?) to fully recover, so put it down to that. But as the pain has got worse in recent months (now nearly two years after the original surgery), the consultant recommended doing a proper scan.

This scan has shown that there has been further deterioration (of the bone?) in my mum's knee - I'm guessing this is the bone surrounding where the knee replacement is??

Anyway, my mum has another consultant appointment this Monday and obviously wants to make the most of this.

Has anyone had a similar experience (with further deterioration following TKR)? And what are the treatment options? I keep reading about 'revision' surgery - would this apply to this situation? Or any other options? What should we be asking the consultant?

Is further deterioration a common thing to happen? What causes it - is it just OA or could it be a problem with the original operation? My mum wonders whether it could have been caused by overdoing the physio.

If anyone has any ideas or can point me in the right direction that would be really helpful.

Thanks in advance! (And fingers crossed that the consultant has something positive to say - I'm very worried he might say something along the lines of 'there's nothing more we can do').

stickywicket

I'm so sorry to hear your mother's TKR is still causing problems. It's generally a very successful op but, I guess, there are always exceptions. It seems her surgeon is following up carefully and thoroughly, though, which is good.

I'm afraid I can't answer any of your questions. I'd just take them with me to the appointment and ask the consultant but I'd be amazed if he said there was nothing more could be done.

Having had a knee revision, I do know that it usually consists of replacing a TKR though I think it can refer to any op to modify it eg replacing one section. But please don't take my word on that. My TKR was simply replaced when it wore out after 27 years. The new implant is much longer than the original but looks oddly beautiful on x-rays and has never given a moment's trouble.

Please let us know how your mother gets on with the appointment. I wish you both the best of luck.

GraceB

Although I've got one partial knee replacement I can't help unfortunately. I've always had pain from my replaced knee - was told that can happen. But it's difficult for me to differentiate how much pain comes from the replaced half of my knee and the normal "bony" part of the knee.

If it were me, I'd write all the questions down on a piece of paper and take that and a pen with me to the appt. You may well find out that the consultant resolves some of your queries with what you are told.

Hope the appointment goes well and you get some answers

GraceB

Moomin

Many thanks for your replies. I really appreciate your support - it's such a comfort to have a sense of others in similar situations able to offer help and advice

Turns out I had misunderstood my mum’s situation – so I’m writing a new post giving the latest (hopefully this gives more clarity…).

Thanks once again.