SJMC Revolutionises Day Care Service in Malaysia with Breakthrough Total Knee Replacement Surgery

This revolutionary procedure enables patients to walk home on the day of their TKR surgery. Coupled with a complete rehabilitation programme from hospital to home, patients are able to recover fast, walk and even climb stairs within a few hours after their TKR surgery, and return to their daily lives quicker than before.

The TKR procedure is commonly performed on patients with degenerated knees due to medical conditions such as osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, or post-traumatic arthritis as a result of an injury. During such circumstances, a TKR surgery is performed to resurface the knee by replacing it with an artificial joint.

Given the complexity of the procedure, conventional TKR surgery requires hospitalisation for three to five days. However, the revolutionary daycare service allows for reduced recovery time in hospitals and contributes to greater savings for patients that fulfil the stringent selection criteria for discharge on the day of surgery. The breakthrough in daycare TKR does not only eliminate the need for hospital stay but also allows patients to recover and regain their quality of life in the comfort of their own homes.

The first case of daycare TKR in Malaysia was performed on a 59-year-old patient in November 2021 by a team of experienced medical professionals from SJMC. The patient sought treatment from SJMC for her severe knee osteoarthritis.

Dato' Dr Siva Kumar Ariaretnam, Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon at SJMC who is also the team lead, said, “I would like to first extend my heartfelt gratitude to the entire team. The combined expertise and strong support are the cornerstones of this remarkable success story. Certainly, our success stems from two decades of careful technical improvements and adaptations to improve the overall patient experience while lowering complication rates and improving the longevity of the implants.”

“A great deal of care and technical expertise is employed to ensure that pain is reduced to allow rapid recovery and return to function after surgery. This is made possible by using a muscle-sparing approach to the knee and includes a superior wound-closure technique which I developed and am particularly passionate about. It’s flexible enough to allow full knee flexion or bending immediately after surgery, and robust enough not to result in wound dehiscence or breakdown after surgery. This is then balanced with a novel intra-articular injection for effective pain management for the surgical procedure as well as post-surgery. Precise identification of the needed pain relief is critical in pain management. Another important factor is the management of bleeding and blood loss, to ensure that patients may return home without further bleeding from the wound,” Dato' Dr Siva added.

The procedure is followed by a complete rehabilitation programme alongside specialised physiotherapy sessions offered through SJMC’s in-house home-care nursing service, Home Connect Service, to ensure that patients receive the highest quality of care while recovering at home. From performing the surgery to managing pain effectively and during the recovery phase, the entire process is managed efficiently by the team of experts at SJMC.