HOUSTON—For patients that have degenerative arthritis, there’s a partial knee replacement technology that has some patients opting out of traditional surgery.
Robert Haynie, a northwest Houston resident, is one of those people.
A year ago, Haynie had a hard time walking up stairs. When walking a couple blocks to get to work or through a parking garage and office building to see his doctor, the pain would force him to stop and take a break.
"You’d take a few steps and without any kind of warning the knee would just stop and there would be this pain would just shoot through it, that would stop you," said Haynie.
At the time, part of Haynie’s knee was plagued with degenerative arthritis.
The debilitating condition brought him to Dr. David Mack of Advanced Orthopedics and Sports Medicine in northwest Houston. Mack suggested a relatively new kind of knee replacement surgery he said just a handful of doctors were doing in Houston.
"It fits perfectly every time," said Mack. "You’ll never have an implant that’s never too big or too small."
With a CAT scan, the pieces are custom-made to fit each patient’s knee.
Mack said the more common partial knee replacement surgery involves pre-made pieces that come in certain sizes. It means the doctor has to figure out what fits the patient best, almost like trying on a new pair of shoes.
"Some shoes are too big - some too small - and it’s sometimes hard to find the shoe that fits just perfect," said Mack. "This one fits perfect every time."
Because the technology is so new, Haynie is not sure how long his custom-made knee will last.
But he does know one thing: he doesn’t have pain anymore.
"Do light jogging, work out, I’ve lost about 35 pounds," said Haynie.
