Air Date: Wednesday, June 21, 2006
Knee pain relief
More women than men need knee replacement surgery as they age.
Now there's an artificial knee being made, just for women. Six years ago, Helen, a knee replacement patient, received a conventional implant to replace her left knee. Now her right knee is acting up.
"It aches. I sleep with a pillow under my knee. I sometimes use ice," Helen said.
So she came back to Rush University Medical Center in Chicago to get a new right knee.
This time, orthopedic surgeon Aaron Rosenberg is putting in an artificial knee that's made especially for women. It's from an Indiana company called Zimmer.
"In general, looking at a large database of female bones, 80-percent of females would be better suited to this than the standard shape that we've previously used," Dr. Rosenberg said.
The operation takes about an hour. Helen's old knee joint is removed and the new knee is put in.
Dr. Rosenberg says the new implant is designed specifically to fit a woman. It takes into account a woman's femur which is shaped differently and the larger space under the kneecap. Dr. Rosenberg says it also fits the inward angle of a woman's legs.
But not everyone agrees.
"It's marketing and I think its very clever marketing," Orthopedic surgeon, Dr. Wayne Goldstein said.
Dr. Goldstein says the so-called female knee isn't any different than other artificial knees. He also says there's no research proving that the new female knee implant is any better.
"When we look at our database we have not found any reason that women do any differently than men as far as outcome and results," Dr. Goldstein said.
Dr. Rosenberg admits there's no clinical research yet on the female knee. He says because it's so new.
In the U.S., more than 250,000 women get their knees replaced each year.
(Copyright (c) 2006 Sunbeam Television Corp. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)
