Knee Replacement (TKR)

Removal of the old knee joint and replacement with an artificial joint

Speciality Orthopaedics
Urgency elective
Duration 1 to 2 h
Blood Loss 250 to 500 ml
Anaesthesia Regional Anaesthetic - Spinal, +/- Nerve Block
Anaesthesia II General +/- Local Anaesthetic, Combined Spinal + Epidural, Epidural, +/- Nerve Block, +/- Sedation, +/- Local Anaesthetic
Nerve Blocks Femoral, Saphenus, Sciatic, +/- Nerve Catheter
Procedures Urinary catheter, +/- Tourniquet
Pain moderate-severe (++++)
Post-op Pain Local up to 4-8 hours, Nerve Block up to 10-30 hours, Nerve Catheter (a few days), Spinal up to 5-10 hours
Post-op Pain II Tablets, Suppositories, Injection (im, iv), +/- PCA
Hospital Stay 3 to 7 days
Full Recovery 8 to 12 weeks
Additional Info significant pain after operation -->good pain relief required as above for early mobilisation (usually after 24h), if nerve blocks fail then pain relief with PCA

Specialities