Orthopaedic Surgery

Personalised patient knee replacement technology revolutionises surgery

Patient’s shapes differ on the inside as much as they do on the outside. Signature™ Personalised Patient Care uses MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) technology to create personalised positioning guides for total knee replacement.

The benefits of Signature™:

Signature™ assists more accurate positioning of knee implants with accurate alignment of the patient’s mechanical axis by creating a pre-operative plan prior to surgery. This can lead to a reduction in theatre time and time under anaesthetic for the patient. It also allows non invasion of the intermedullary canals.

Before Surgery

An MRI is used to create a three-dimensional joint reconstruction, which enables the surgeon to pre-operatively plan knee replacement surgery. In the past, surgeon planning has typically been based from two-dimensional X-rays. The innovative Signature ™ system uses custom femoral and tibial positioning guides developed from the MRI scan.

When used in conjunction with the Signature ™ system, the Vanguard ™ Complete Knee System allows orthopaedic surgeons to provide more of a custom fit specifically for the patient, regardless of age, race, size, or gender. The Vanguard ™ knee offers a range of femoral size options with 90 different size combinations available.

During Surgery

The surgical procedure using the Signature ™ system is similar to traditional total knee replacement with a few exceptions; personalised positioning guides are placed directly onto the femur(thigh bone) and tibia (shin bone), and therefore do not require instrumentation of the bone canal, allowing for a potentially less invasive procedure. The Signature ™ personalised positioning guides also enable the surgeon to position a knee implant accurately according to the pre-operative plan, whilst using fewer invasive instruments.

If patients have questions regarding Signature™ Personalised Patient Care, they should speak with an orthopaedic surgeon.

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This procedure is only available at Abbey Carrick Glen Hospital & Abbey Gisburne Park Hospital

Arthroscopy: This minimally invasive surgical procedure allows an Orthopaedic Surgeon to examine a joint (especially the Knee) and operate using a device called an Arthroscope. This tiny instrument incorporates a miniature video camera and light source and lenses that can magnify the image viewed on a TV monitor. Inserted through very small incisions in the skin, the Arthroscope gives the surgeon an exceptionally clear view of the joint and allows him to operate using small instruments inserted through additional, equally small, incisions. Surgery is far less traumatic, scarring is dramatically reduced, healing is faster and recovery is much quicker using this method.

Hip and Knee Replacement Surgery. A hip replacement involves replacing your hip joint with an artificial version and provides a long-term solution for worn or damaged hip joints, which can cause severe pain and loss of mobility. The operation replaces both the natural socket (the acetabulum) and the rounded ball at the head of the thigh-bone (the femoral head) with artificial parts made of metal and plastic. All types of hip replacement surgery are beneficial, offering increased mobility and a better quality of life. In knee replacement surgery (arthroplasty) a damaged, worn or diseased knee is replaced with an artificial joint. Knee replacement is a routine operation when the knee joint has been severely damaged by arthritis or perhaps by a sports injury. There are two main types of surgery undertaken, depending on the condition of the knee: total knee replacement and half (partial) knee replacement. A replacement knee will probably last at least 10-15 years, depending on how active you are and the type of replacement you have.

The "Birmingham Hip" technique (Gisburne Park & Sefton Hospitals only). The Birmingham Hip Resurfacing (BHR) technique is relatively new and has the major advantage or preserving as much of the patient’s femoral bone tissue as possible. Slightly less invasive than a complete hip replacement, with BHR the surgeon covers your hip socket with a metal cup and covers your femoral head with a metal cap. With a total hip replacement, the surgeon covers your hip socket with a cup and replaces the entire femoral head with a metal ball attached to a long metal stem which is inserted into your thighbone. Either total hip replacement or the BHR System relieves hip pain and improves hip function by replacing the parts that have been severely damaged by degenerative joint diseases such as osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, traumatic arthritis, dysplasia, or avascular necrosis.

Shoulder and Hand Surgery. Your shoulder is the most flexible joint in your body, but it’s this flexibility that also makes your shoulder susceptible to instability and injury. Your shoulder is a ball-and-socket joint made up of three bones: the upper arm bone (humerus), shoulder blade (scapula) and collarbone (clavicle). Depending on the nature of the problem, non-surgical methods of treatment often are recommended before surgery but ultimately surgical procedures including shoulder replacement are possible for degenerative joint diseases such as osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis and traumatic arthritis. Human hands are a marvel of multipurpose engineering and serve many purposes. They help us eat, dress, write, earn a living and many other activities. To do all this our hands require sensation and movement, joint motion, tendon gliding, and muscle contraction. When you get a problem in the hand, care must be given to all the different types of tissues that make the function of the hand possible. Our surgeons and consultants at Abbey Hospitals are all orthopaedic, cosmetic or general surgeons who have additional training in surgery of the hand.

Lower Limb Reconstruction. The human foot is a complex structure made up of 26 bones, 107 ligaments and 19 muscles. In addition to treating fractures and dislocations our orthopaedic surgeons at Abbey Hospitals can also treat a wide variety of foot and ankle problems including abnormalities of the ankle, hindfoot and midfoot, diabetic foot problems, rheumatoid arthritis and other inflammatory arthritic conditions. A variety of surgical techniques including joint replacement, arthroscopy, arthrodesis, osteotomy and synovectomy can be used to relieve pain, correct deformities and increase mobility of the joint.

Pain Management. Abbey Hospitals can provide psychologically-based rehabilitative treatments and programmes for people with chronic pain which remains unresolved by other treatment regimes or cannot be addressed by surgery. This requires an interdisciplinary team of skilled and experienced health care professionals working closely with patients offering counselling on how best to cope with pain and how to live a more active life. Other approaches may involve the use of drugs, acupuncture and other complementary therapies. Pain Management aims to reduce the distress caused by chronic pain by teaching physical, psychological and practical techniques to improve your mobility and quality of life.

Physiotherapy and Rehabilitation. Physiotherapy plays a key role in recovery from any orthopedic surgery and patients receive the services of a Chartered Physiotherapist whose aim is return them to the fullest possible fitness as soon as possible. In some cases, acupuncture may also be recommended in addition to conventional physiotherapy treatment.

All the orthopaedics surgery procedures described here are available on a Fixed Price Surgery scheme. Please contact us for full details.

How Long Will You Stay in Hospital?

That depends entirely on the procedure to be carried out and your rate of recovery but all these procedures are conducted under general anaesthesia, so a hospital stay of anything from 3 days to 1 week could be required. If you undergo arthroscopy for example, convalescence times are usually considerably less that more complex surgery due to the minimally invasive nature of the procedure. On your first consultation, your consultant will advise you on the likely length of stay in hospital.

How to Make an Appointment

A referral from your GP is preferred. We will then arrange an appointment time for you. If your treatment does not require a GP referral, the Consultant will write to your GP before the surgery is carried out.