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MK Orthopädie Währing
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26. February 2025

Knee Re­pla­ce­ment for Young Pa­ti­ents | In­no­va­tive Treatment

Knee re­pla­ce­ment for pa­ti­ents un­der 60 ye­ars of age or si­gni­fi­cantly younger

The de­cis­ion for a knee re­pla­ce­ment in pa­ti­ents un­der 60 ye­ars of age re­qui­res careful con­side­ra­tion. Be­fore de­ci­ding on a sur­gi­cal pro­ce­dure, all non-ope­ra­tive, con­ser­va­tive tre­at­ment me­thods such as phy­sio­the­rapy, pain the­rapy, or in­jec­tions are exhausted. 

While knee en­do­pro­s­the­ses are tra­di­tio­nally used in ol­der pa­ti­ents with ad­van­ced os­teo­ar­thri­tis, the num­ber of knee re­pla­ce­ments in youn­ger pa­ti­ents is con­ti­nuously in­cre­asing. Ac­cor­ding to an ana­ly­sis by the Ber­tels­mann Foun­da­tion, the num­ber of ope­ra­ti­ons in the age group un­der 60 ye­ars in­creased by 23 per­cent bet­ween 2013 and 2016. 

Chal­lenges: Knee Re­pla­ce­ment in Youn­ger Patients

Youn­ger pa­ti­ents place spe­cial de­mands on knee re­pla­ce­ments. Their hig­her ac­ti­vity le­vels and lon­ger life ex­pec­tancy can af­fect the lon­ge­vity of the im­plants. The youn­ger the pa­ti­ent is at the time of in­itial im­plan­ta­tion, the hig­her the pro­ba­bi­lity of one or more re­vi­sion sur­ge­ries du­ring their life­time, as the average life­span of a knee re­pla­ce­ment is ap­pro­xi­m­ately 15 to 20 ye­ars.

Pro­sthe­sis Type: Lon­ge­vity and Customization
  • Lon­ge­vity: Young pa­ti­ents re­quire pro­s­the­ses with ex­ten­ded du­ra­bi­lity. Ma­te­ri­als such as highly cross-lin­ked po­ly­ethy­lene, cera­mics, or spe­cial me­tal al­loys are preferred. 
  • Cus­to­mi­zed Pro­s­the­ses: Cus­tom-made pro­s­the­ses or those spe­ci­fi­cally tail­o­red to the pa­ti­en­t’s ana­tomy and life­style are of­ten used.
  • Par­tial Pro­s­the­ses: For li­mi­ted knee da­mage, par­tial pro­s­the­ses (uni­con­dy­lar) are of­ten used to pre­serve he­althy structures.
Sur­gi­cal Tech­ni­que for Knee Re­pla­ce­ment: Pre­cis­ion and Preservation
  • Tis­sue-Spa­ring Ap­proa­ches: Mi­ni­mally in­va­sive tech­ni­ques and mus­cle-spa­ring ap­proa­ches re­duce he­al­ing time and im­prove function.
  • Na­vi­ga­ted Sur­gery: Com­pu­ter-as­sis­ted or ro­bot-as­sis­ted pro­ce­du­res en­sure more pre­cise pro­sthe­sis pla­ce­ment, which im­pro­ves durability.
  • Bone-Spa­ring Pro­ce­du­res: Care is ta­ken to re­move as little bone ma­te­rial as pos­si­ble to fa­ci­li­tate fu­ture re­vi­sion surgeries.
Knee Re­pla­ce­ment in Ath­le­ti­cally Ac­tive Pa­ti­ents: Mo­dern Ro­bot-As­sis­ted Tech­no­lo­gies for Pre­cise Procedures 

To meet the high de­mands of young, ath­le­ti­cally ac­tive pa­ti­ents, Dr. Ma­xi­mi­lian Kas­pa­rek re­lies on in­no­va­tive tech­no­lo­gies. Since Fe­bru­ary 2024, the CORI ro­bo­tic sys­tem has been in use at the Evan­ge­li­sches Kran­ken­haus Wien (Evan­ge­li­cal Hos­pi­tal Vi­enna), en­ab­ling pre­cise ad­apt­a­tion of the pro­sthe­sis to the pa­ti­en­t’s in­di­vi­dual anatomy. 

The pre­cis­ion of the ro­bo­tic sys­tem leads to a bet­ter fit of the pro­sthe­sis, which is par­ti­cu­larly ad­van­ta­ge­ous for ac­tive patients.

Priv.-Doz. DDr. Ma­xi­mi­lian Kas­pa­rek En­do­pro­sthe­tic Surgeon

Re­ha­bi­li­ta­tion: Ra­pid Re­co­very and Long-Term Care
  • More In­ten­sive Re­ha­bi­li­ta­tion: Youn­ger pa­ti­ents have hig­her de­mands on knee func­tion­a­lity. Re­ha­bi­li­ta­tion is de­si­gned to enable a quick re­turn to daily activities. 
  • Sports-Re­la­ted Re­ha­bi­li­ta­tion: Phy­sio­the­rapy pro­grams are spe­ci­fi­cally tail­o­red to ath­le­tic ac­ti­vi­ties and mus­cle building.
  • Long-Term Care: Re­gu­lar fol­low-up ex­ami­na­ti­ons are cru­cial to de­tect wear or com­pli­ca­ti­ons early.
Sports Af­ter Knee Replacement

A com­mon con­cern for youn­ger pa­ti­ents is the pos­si­bi­lity of re­tur­ning to sports af­ter sur­gery. Joint-fri­endly sports such as swim­ming, cy­cling, or golf are re­com­men­ded, while high-in­ten­sity sports with ab­rupt mo­ve­ments should be avo­ided. Re­gu­lar phy­sio­the­rapy sup­port aids the re­turn to sports and con­tri­bu­tes to the lon­ge­vity of the prosthesis. 

Con­clu­sion

The im­plan­ta­tion of a knee re­pla­ce­ment in pa­ti­ents un­der 60 ye­ars of age re­qui­res in­di­vi­dual and careful plan­ning. Thanks to mo­dern tech­no­lo­gies and cus­to­mi­zed the­ra­peu­tic ap­proa­ches, young, ac­tive pa­ti­ents can also re­gain their qua­lity of life and re­main ath­le­ti­cally active. 

“With the right ap­proach, it is pos­si­ble to enable young pa­ti­ents to have a high qua­lity of life and en­gage in sports ac­ti­vi­ties,” em­pha­si­zes Dr. Kasparek

For in­di­vi­dual con­sul­ta­tion and tre­at­ment, I am available to you in my pri­vate prac­tice in the 18th dis­trict of Vi­enna. Please sche­dule an ap­point­ment to cla­rify your ques­ti­ons and dis­cuss the best pos­si­ble therapy. 

If you en­joyed this ar­ticle, you might also be in­te­res­ted in other posts from our blog.

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Priv.Doz. DDr.
Maximilian Kasparek, MSc
haelsi Gesundheitszentrum im Achtzehnten Theresiengasse 46/2 1180 Vienna

+43 1 399 08 63
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