Total Knee Replacement | Joint Replacement Surgery Total Knee Replacement can be an extremely successful surgical procedure. The first knee replacement procedure was performed more than 30yrs ago. Since then, millions of people have received knee replacements. Knee replacement surgery is a fairly routine procedure with more than 4, 00, 000 being performed every year in the United States alone. Total Knee replacement, also called Arthroplasty, involves removing the diseased bone and cartilage & resurfacing it with Orthopaedic Implants. The word replacement makes one think that surgeons remove the entire knee. In truth, your surgeon only resurfaces damaged bone & cartilage at the ends of the bones in your joint. During surgery, the joint is exposed by a midline incision. The advantages of these approaches are that the patient is able to walk on the same day of the surgery and muscle power is well maintained for better walking and climbing stairs. The damaged bones are then resurfaced with components designed to re-create the natural contours of the bones in a healthy knee. The metal & polyethylene (plastic) implants allow the bones to smoothly glide against each other, much like natural cartilage. Total Knee Replacement is performed while you are under anesthesia. There are various types of anesthesia like Spinal, Epidural, General, Femoral blocks etc which your physician and anesthetist will decide before surgery after examining you properly.