Patient-specific knee resurfacing implants now available for Inland Empire residents

Inland Empire residents suffering from knee pain can finally take a sigh of relief thanks to the availability of minimally traumatic, patient-specific knee resurfacing implants. Dr. Leisure Yu, an orthopedic surgeon at Loma Linda University Medical Center in Loma Linda, California, and the Advanced Surgical Center in Redlands, California. Dr. Yu is performing a new type of patient-specific knee implant surgery for patients throughout the Inland Empire suffering from osteoarthritis; a condition that affects more than 27 million adults in the U.S. Additionally, Dr. Yu treats international patients and patients across the region, including San Diego, San Francisco, and Las Vegas.

“ConforMIS’s technology offers patients of all ages a solution to osteoarthritis and allows them to regain their pain-free and active lifestyles”

Dr. Yu is currently performing surgery with the iUni® and iDuo®, the only personalized unicompartmental and bicompartmental knee resurfacing implants on the market. The implants are designed as a bone-sparing alternative to traditional total knee replacement in patients whose arthritic damage is limited to just one or two compartments of the knee. The implants resurface only the affected areas, preserving far more bone on both the femur and tibia than traditional total knee replacement surgery. It also preserves the patient's ligaments, helping to maintain a more natural feeling knee, and it safeguards options for future surgical procedures.

“ConforMIS’s technology offers patients of all ages a solution to osteoarthritis and allows them to regain their pain-free and active lifestyles,” said Dr. Yu. “Additionally, unlike traditional total knee replacement, a patient-specific partial knee implant enables the patient’s healthy bone to be preserved.”

Pat Tanner, Dr. Yu’s patient, had experienced severe, debilitating knee pain preventing him from participating in normal activity, including walking. Unfortunately, he was told by two separate doctors that he was too young to have a knee replacement. Pat sought the council of Dr. Yu, who told him he was a candidate for a patient-specific partial knee replacement. Pat was back to his physically intense job in commercial kitchen electronics repairs just 3 weeks later and is now able to walk two miles every day. Pat received an iUni implant to address the osteoarthritis that was isolated to one compartment of his knee.

"Being able to get back to my job just three weeks after surgery was the most surprising result for me," said Pat Tanner. "I am back at my job and able to work and walk without the pain that I had to live with at such a young age."