Removal of bony spurs
Bony spurs or "Osteophytes" can form at the margin of the knee joint and cause pain and limitation of movement. These can be shaved arthroscopically and can be readily removed during daycase surgery with improvement in pain and joint function.
Arthroscopic anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction
They frequently undertake reconstruction of the cruciate ligament following skiing, football, netball and other sporting injuries. The repair is performed through tiny incisions using keyhole surgery. Two of the hamstring tendons are removed through the same incision and used to replace the cruciate ligament. Less often, posterior cruciate reconstruction is required.
Autologous cartilage-cell implantation
Where there has been loss of articular cartilage they are sometimes able to take a sample of normal cartilage cells from the knee joint, have a sheet of new cartilage grown in the laboratory and then reimplant this to resurface cartilage defects within the knee joint. This forms part of a clinical research project.
Primary total knee replacement
They undertake total knee replacements in cases of advanced damage to the knee joint and operate without tourniquet with minimal blood loss and without the need for blood transfusion. In most cases an excellent range of movement is achieved with good return of knee function and pain relief.
Primary unicondylar knee replacement
About half of their knee replacement cases involve only a part of the joint, most commonly the inner or medial compartment and less commonly the outer or lateral compartment. Functional outcomes are often near normal with excellent return of function in most cases. Many such patients regain a very high level of mobility.
Revision knee replacement surgery
Where a previous knee replacement has failed or has never functioned well they offer revision knee replacement with in most cases extremely beneficial return of function. These are complex cases which require significant surgical expertise and careful post-operative rehabilitation. These cases are also undertaken without tourniquet and in many cases without a need for transfusion.
Outpatient Injections
They frequently administer injections on an outpatient basis for pain relief in arthritis using a material known as Hyaluronan. This used to be called Hyaluronic Acid but is in fact a chain of 10,000 or more pairs of sugar molecules one of which is a form of Glucosamine. It functions as a lubricant but has many other important physiological and nutritional effects on the joint.
Physiotherapy
Inpatient and outpatient physiotherapy is available on site to cater for all your requirements either as the main modality of treatment and also before and after surgical intervention.
They also work with, and have links with, numerous independent physiotherapists specialising in the treatment of knee problems in many areas of the UK. In London they have close links with ES Physical Therapy at Harley Street for isokinetic assessment and treatment.
If you have your own physiotherapist they will be happy to refer and liaise with him/her and to send them all details of your diagnosis, clinical assessment, operation details and post-operative care.
