An international, multi-center study led by researchers at Hospital for Special Surgery (HSS) has found that total knee replacements in younger patients with juvenile arthritis last at least 10 years in 92 percent of cases. More than 75 percent of the implants lasted 20 years or more. "The surgery in this patient population, although performed by only a small number of highly specialized orthopedic surgeons nationwide, is life-changing for JIA patients," said Dr. Mark P. Figgie, senior author of the study and chief of the Surgical Arthritis Service at HSS. "Joint replacement can free patients – many of them adolescents – from a life of unrelenting pain. It can enable those in a wheel chair...
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