Surgery & Recovery

Before Surgery

Your preoperative experience will be like that of most total knee patients except that an MRI of your affected leg will be required. The typical MRI scan will last approximately 20 minutes. The scan will only be performed on the hip, knee and ankle, so your head will remain outside of the machine. The MRI is used for preoperative planning by your surgeon and for the design and manufacture of the Signature™ personalized positioning guides that will be used during your knee replacement.

During Surgery

During typical knee replacement, several metal instruments are used to remove the damaged bone and cartilage, to confirm implant sizing, and to establish proper implant positioning and alignment on the bone. Additionally, traditional total knee replacement sometimes uses instruments placed inside the femur (thighbone) and/or tibia (shinbone) to assist with implant alignment and positioning.

Traditional Knee Replacement

• Metal instruments establish implant position and alignment
• Metal rods sometimes placed inside bone canal

The Signature™ system* utilizes custom guides placed directly onto your unique anatomy. These custom guides are used to guide special pins that are part of the surgical instrumentation. These pins are used to hold the metal guides that are used to trim the damaged bone and cartilage from the knee joint.

Signature™ Knee Replacement

• Custom guides placed directly onto knee anatomy
• Custom guides have implant position and alignment built into their design
• Metal pins hold instruments to trim damaged bone and cartilage

After Surgery

After surgery, you probably will be hospitalized for two to three days. Recovery time varies, but most people should be able to drive after two weeks, garden after three to four weeks, and golf after six to eight weeks. Your surgeon will tell you when and what activities you can return to and what activities to avoid.