The common surgery that sets off a deadly domino effect

If you suffer from chronic knee pain, you may eventually consider total knee replacement (TKR) surgery.

After all, many people now qualify for outpatient TKR. But just because your TKR surgery is outpatient doesn’t mean it’ll be a walk in the park. In fact, it can often turn out to be much more than you bargained for.

If you’re thinking of taking this step, it’s important that you talk to your doctor about another TKR procedure known as “TKR revision surgery.”

That’s right: a revision. Unfortunately, knee replacements don’t last forever. So if you have TKR surgery, you’ll most likely call it your “first TKR.” The good news is, there are effective, non-invasive therapies that you can use instead to find the relief you desperately need. More on where you can find those in just a moment.

First, though, let’s take a closer look at the common, but less-than-ideal operations so many patients opt for instead.

If at first your surgery doesn’t succeed…

Your doctor will tell you that you can expect your new knee to last for about 15 to 20 years.

But what they probably won’t tell you is that of the 22,000 TKR revision operations performed every year, more than half occur within just two years of the initial procedure.

And your second revision (that is, your third surgery) is likely to occur within 10 years. And if you happen to be obese, jog regularly, or play sports, that duration between surgeries is likely to be even shorter.

Revision surgery is more complicated than the initial TKR because your surgeon has to remove the old “hardware” used to repair your knee in the first place. And, unfortunately, these devices often grow into existing bone. In some cases there’s less bone present, which requires a bone graft to support the new device.

And when all of this is completed, your knee is more susceptible to infection and other complications.

In addition, recovery and rehabilitation may take longer with each additional surgery, with physical therapy lasting for three months or more.

Inappropriate and ineffective

If these details discourage you from going forward with an initial TKR, well — that might be the best thing that could happen.

As Dr. Marc Micozzi notes in his Arthritis Relief & Reversal Protocol, “Most primary knee replacement procedures are inappropriate and/or ineffective.” And keep in mind, this observation comes from someone who suffers from knee osteoarthritis himself.

Dr. Micozzi cites a study where researchers at the Virginia Commonwealth University investigated the outcomes of more than 200 knee osteoarthritis patients who had opted for TKR surgery.

Their results showed that less than half of the surgeries qualified as “appropriate.”

Among the other surgeries, nearly 35 percent were “inappropriate,” and 22 percent were “inconclusive.”

Most of the patients in the “inappropriate” group had “slight to moderate symptoms,” and tended to be under the age of 55. So you can clearly see why the Journal of the American Medical Association predicts that by 2030, surgeons in the U.S. will be performing as many as 3.5 million TKRs every year — a shocking jump from the 243,000 procedures in 2010.

Additional hidden risks

Dr. Micozzi has even more reasons he recommends taking a pass on TKR unless all nonsurgical treatments have failed. For one thing, he says, your surgeon may be less than competent.

The reason? Dr. Micozzi notes that a significant percentage of these operations are performed by surgeons who do fewer than 12 of them per year.

And he adds, “A study published in the journal Arthritis & Rheumatism compared results at hospitals with a high volume of total knee replacements — 200 or more per year — to hospitals with fewer than 200. And get this: The lower-volume hospitals had up to three times as many post-surgical blood clots and twice as many deaths.”

And one more caution can’t be ignored: Knee or hip replacement surgery can threaten your heart.

In one study, analysis showed that patients who had total knee or hip replacement had a 5 percent greater risk of heart attack, with an additional risk of blood clots forming in their legs. And that risk can persist for years, putting you in greater danger of fatal pulmonary embolism.

When you put all these factors together, Dr. Micozzi says, “The rational, scientific conclusion is that at least two-thirds of the people who are considering or being encouraged to get joint replacements should NOT rush into surgery.”

A full exploration of safe, effective, and reliable treatments that don’t involve surgery or drugs is a much better course of action. And you can find a wide variety of these alternative strategies in Dr. Micozzi’s Arthritis Relief & Reversal Protocol. Click here to learn more about this online learning tool or to enroll today.

SOURCES

healthline.com/health/total-knee-replacement-surgery/revision#1
What Is Knee Replacement Revision Surgery?
Healthline
October 23, 2017