unicompartmental / partial knee replacement (Oxford)

by Albert Stankard
(Massachusetts)

I have a complex issue, I'm a 42 yr. old male who is very active and have a question regarding a unicompartmental knee replacement (partial)I had back in Dec. 07'

After a yr. of rehabbing and knowing something wasn't correct I finally got a second opinion, that surgeon informed me that my implant was loose (bone scan confirmed).

From my understanding of why it's loose is because the tibial side of the implant is being interfeared w/ by my ACL (hamstring) graf I had back in 96'. If I understand correctly the tibial implants bottom which has a little tab or handle like piece that is notched in to my tibia has been in contact w/ the tunneled portion of the ACL graf. So instead of the implant sitting on a solid bed of bone it's got some movement in there from this contact of the graft and therefore is not secured properly.

I'm having a difficult time getting all the info from my surgeon and was hoping you could shed some light on my dilema.

I'm being told the only way to revise a partial replacement is w/ a full knee replacement which I'm told I'm way too young for if I want to stay active.

A) does this make sense to you?

B) how could this happen?

Thank You for any advice you may be able to give me,

-Zerpud