Knee replacement surgery complications

Knee replacement is also referred to as knee anthroplasty. Often this surgery is done to relieve the pain and disability of osteoarthritis. However, the person undergoing knee replacement surgery might undergo a lot of complications.

Blood clots may appear in the veins of the legs which is one of the most common complications. This may lead to embolism that can eventually cause death. Embolism is a condition when the clots can reach from the heart to the lungs. These might not be dangerous if proper treatment is administered to the patient. This might delay the patient’s stay in the hospital.

Another complication of knee replacement surgery is the risk of infections. The risk of infection in this type of operation is the most. This is because the chance of entering the wound by the bacteria is the most here. Hence necessary precautions have to be taken using sterilized equipments and by administering Antibiotics.

Loosening of the prosthesis from the bone is yet to another problem faced due to knee replacement surgery. The strength of the bond will depend upon numerous factors like the effectiveness of the surgery, the bone quality, whether you the patient is active, weight as well as design of the implant. Thus keeping all these things in mind it would be important that the surgeon should be well experienced and skilled in his job. It is always better to choose a surgeon who specializes in joint replacement surgery.

Quality of the bones play an important role since the harder the bones the stronger will be the bond. Besides, your activity would also influence your bond. Being hyperactive can also affect the bond and resting for the rest of your life after the surgery can also loosen the bond. Hence you need to research over the allowable activities after the knee replacement surgery. The weight should also be balanced since this can also exert a lot of force on your knees.

Wound healing can be the other complication due to the knee replacement surgery. This type of complication is mainly seen in fat legs and in this parts of the skin may die. Another type of problem associated to knee replacement surgery is nerve damage. However, this problem is quite rare. In this basically, the peroneal nerve gets damaged. The patient need not worry much since it may take around 6 to 12 months to recover.

Bleeding complications can also occur. Due to the use of blood thinners, bleeding can be observed in the wound for several days. In fact, a condition may arise out in which the opening up of wound may be required if the bleeding is excessive. There might be bleeding in the urine as well but this is temporary so the patient need not worry.
Numbness around the wound can also be observed and unfortunately it’s permanent. It is thus advisable not to apply hot packs since this can burn the skin.

In a nut shell, there can also be some other minor complications. However, knee replacement surgery is quite successful and complications are rare as far as complexity of the procedure is concerned.

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