Partial Knee Replacement

The knee joint can be viewed as three main compartments: the medial compartment, lateral compartment and patellofemoral compartment. If your pain and arthritis is localized to just one of these compartments, then a partial knee replacement may be an option for you. A partial knee replacement (unicompartmental knee arthroplasty) has certain advantages when compared to a total knee arthroplasty. The ACL and PCL are retained along with the remaining non-arthritic compartments, which allows the knee to feel more like your native knee. Patients often have less pain and a faster recovery from a partial knee replacement. If you have arthritis in more than one compartment or more globalized pain, a partial knee replacement may not be a good option for you and can result in early failure and subsequent conversion to a total knee replacement.