LOS ANGELES — Knee replacement surgery has become common in the past 30 years, and more younger people with bad knees are considering it. A study presented Wednesday at the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons’ annual meeting may reassure them that the replacement should hold up for a long time.
Researchers evaluated 128 people who had lived at least 20 years after total knee replacement surgery. The patients’ average age at the time of surgery was 63. The average age at the post-20-year follow-up was 82. The study found that almost all of the patients had good physical function. Most could walk at least five blocks, and half said they had “unlimited” walking ability. All but two could walk up and down stairs. None of the patients had experienced an implant failure.
“Elderly people are using their surgically replaced knees for fairly active lifestyles many years after surgery,” the lead author of the study, Dr. John B. Meding, said in a news release. Meding is an attending orthopedic surgeon at the Center for Hip and Knee Surgery in Mooresville, Ind.
