By Curt MacDougall
Consider these facts taken from a recent National Center for Health Statistics report: In 2010, total knee replacement was the most frequently performed inpatient procedure on adults aged 45 and over. From 2000 through 2010, an estimated 5.2 million total knee replacements were performed, with the rate of procedures for both men and women nearly doubling over that period.
We find ourselves in the middle of one of the greatest wealth transfer periods of all time. Those with wealth must decide whether they want to make transfers, and if they do, they must decide how much, to whom, when and in what structure?
And when it comes to gauging a successful knee replacement, it’s all about patient satisfaction. Dr. Brian Blackwood is an orthopedic surgeon with Boulder Community Health, specializing in knee and hip replacements. “There is a component of knee replacement patients where the X-rays look good but they still aren’t really happy with their knee,” he said. “Traditionally patients who are satisfied or very satisfied with their knee replacement are around 80 or 85 percent, so 15 to 20 percent of the patients just aren’t happy with the performance of their knee.”
Now technology is helping to improve those numbers by way of a system called Versasense.
