Minimally Invasive Surgeries

St.Vincent Center for Joint Replacement surgeons perform a range of minimally invasive procedures. There’s an industry trend toward minimally invasive techniques, because they generally lead to smaller scars and a shorter, less painful recovery time. Minimally invasive procedures can be more difficult to perform, so it is important to select a well-qualified orthopaedic surgeon.

There are several new alternatives to traditional hip and knee replacements. Procedures currently being performed at St.Vincent include:

• Minimally invasive single-incision hip replacement:
  involves an incision of only about three inches, compared with 10 to 12 inches for traditional hip replacements. Recovery times are generally shorter as well.
  
• Minimally invasive two-incision hip replacement:
  is a new minimally invasive hip replacement procedure involves two incisions of about two inches each, compared with 10 to 12 inches for traditional hip replacements. Recovery is generally faster and less painful. The procedure is very new with few surgeons performing it in the country.
  
• Minimally invasive unicompartmental knee replacement:
  is for selected patients with osteoarthritis on one side of the knee. Surgeons remove only the diseased portion of the knee, making a three-inch incision. Hospital stays are generally much shorter, and recovery time is faster than for traditional knee replacements. Patients often have nearly a full range of motion after the procedure.
  
• Minimally invasive total knee replacement:
  a minimally invasive procedure for a total knee replacement has been developed but is very new and is not yet mainstream. Surgeons have only been performing it for about a year with good results overall.

For more information on these procedures, talk to your surgeon