An artificial knee replacement is done when a knee is severely damaged by injury or disease.The most common condition that results in the need for knee replacement surgery is osteoarthritis is the main cause for knee replacement surgery. It isa degenerative joint disease, that is very common in middle-aged and older adults. It results in the breakdown of joint cartilage and adjacent bone in the knees. In addition, other forms of arthritis, fractures, torn cartilage, and/or torn ligaments also can lead to irreversible damage to the knee joint over the years. Though the decision to undergo this treatment totally depends on you and your physician after all alternative therapies have been tried.

Tests carried out before the surgery
a complete medical history is taken
a complete physical examination, including x-rays is taken
You may undergo blood tests or other tests as directed by your physician.
Procedure to replace a knee with an artificial knee
Usually surgery to replace a knee lasts for two hours and it uses either cemented prostheses or uncemented prostheses as they are the two most common types of prosthesis available
A knee prosthesis is made up of metal and plastic. Surgical cement is used to attach to the bone in case of cemented prosthesis where as in uncemented prosthesis bone is attached with a fine mesh of holes on the surface, in order for the bone to grow into the mesh and attach naturally to the prosthesis.
Surgery is usually carried out under general anesthesia or with spinal or epidural anesthesia.

After surgery:
An in-hospital stay of several days is required in this kind of surgery Though the patient begins to regain strength and mobility by the range of physical exercises carried out at hospital and continued thereafter at home. Patient is relieved from the pain through effective medication. incision will have stitches or staples that will be removed after a few weeks.
Risks involved with Knee Replacement surgery
Deep Vein Thrombosis - or the risk of clot formation in leg veins
Infection - The risk of infection is less than 1% and pre-operative antibiotics are given to prevent this from happening.
Mainy overweight and diabetic people may experience Pain and Stiffness
Nerve and vessel damage around the site of incision.
Failure of plastic prosthesis due to the wearing out of the plastic