Unicompartmental Knee Replacement (Partial Knee Replacement)
The knee joint is comprised of three distinct compartments. It is not uncommon for one side of the knee or the other to experience wear from osteoarthritis while the remainder of the knee is unaffected. In this scenario, rather than replacing the entire knee (both good and bad compartments), it is possible to least invasive to replace only the single side impacted by the arthritis.
Patellofemoral Knee Replacement
The third section of the knee is the kneecap and the section in which it glides—the Patellofemoral compartment. A small number of patients will have arthritis only in this segment of the knee. This section only can be replaced in what is known as a patellofemaoral joint replacement which allows the ligaments of the knee and the other two regions to be completely preserved. The motion of the knee is more natural when only this compartment is replaced.
Bicompartmental Knee Replacement
In certain instances two of the three compartments of the knee are impacted by arthritis and a bicompartmental knee replacement targets only two segments rather than all three. This is favorable because it spares two of the four ligaments' complexes located within the knee.