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Knee Injuries
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| Diagnose | Repair | Recover |
Many patients who have a knee replacement will require blood transfusion. If you are donating blood for your surgery, you will be asked to donate one or two units of your own blood within 35 days prior to your surgery date. This will involve scheduling an appointment with the blood bank of the hospital, or if necessary, a blood donation facility recommended by your insurance carrier or one closer to where you live (for out-of-state patients). Only one unit of blood can be donated at a time, so you may need to come in for two visits. The blood is then stored until your operation.
If you are unable to donate blood, for whatever reason, donor blood will be used in your case, if necessary. People have expressed some concern about blood transfusion because of the risk of transmitting diseases. Donor blood is carefully screened for communicable diseases. With the new technology, the risk of hepatitis and HIV infection is extremely low. To our knowledge, disease transmission through use of donated blood has never occurred in any of our patients. However, there is no question that your own blood is the safest. Therefore, if you are able, we recommend that you donate blood for your surgery. If you're coming a long way, arrangements can be made to have you give blood locally and have it transported here for your surgery. Please be assured that blood that you give will be given back to you, if needed.
Within two weeks prior to your surgery, you will be asked to undergo several laboratory tests and possibly an electrocardiogram and chest x-ray. This is called pre-admission testing. This will help us to tell whether there are any conditions which might increase the risk of surgery. A physical examination, performed by your own medical doctor or hospital staff here, is also a part of pre-admission testing.
You will not be allowed to drink or eat anything after midnight and on the morning of the surgery. In some cases, you may be allowed to take a medication you normally take in the morning with a minimal amount of water. If instructed to do so, you will need to let the admitting nurse know that you have done this.
When you come into the hospital on the day of surgery, you may have some additional x-rays that might not have been taken previously and have a physical examination by your surgeon or resident. If you have not already done so, you will be asked to sign an operative consent form to state that you understand what is being proposed and that you are in agreement that we may proceed with the operation. Just prior to surgery, an intravenous line will be started and you will be taken into the operating suite.
You will be seen by an anesthesiologist on the morning of surgery. The anesthesiologist can answer specific questions you might have. Most of our surgeries are performed under spinal anesthesia. This is a very safe form of anesthesia. It is safer than general anesthesia, which is one of the reasons why we recommend it. Spinal anesthesia disturbs the major body functions a lot less than general anesthesia. Unless there are some specific reasons why a spinal anesthetic should not be used in your case, this is our preferred method of anesthesia.
The anesthesiologist will give you some medication to make you sleepy so that you're not really aware of what's going on in the operating room. You will not be totally asleep either. However, the area that will be operated on will be totally numb throughout the operation and for several hours after the surgery.
Knee Replacement Specialists
