Knee Replacement Implant Selection

I am always asked by patients what implants do I use for knee and hip replacement.

For knee replacement, I most commonly use the NexGen LPS (Legacy Knee Posterior Stabilized) Flex femoral component. This is a high flexion, posterior stabilized design and comes in a "female" and gender neutral design. The "female" design is labeled GSF. I use the cemented version of this component.
For the tibial side, I use the Zimmer NexGen stemmed tibial component with Prolong highly crosslinked polyethylene LPS Flex tibial insert and patella.
The NexGen line of knee implants has an excellent track record and the new additions of the gender specific and high flexion designs have offered more options to match implants to patient anatomy and demands. There have been some issues with products in the NexGen family, specifically with the cementless components and the MIS tibia which I do not use.
Here is a picture of the LPS Flex knee from the Zimmer website: www.Zimmer.com

There are situations when I prefer to use the LPS (non-flex) femoral component. This is sometimes selected for very stiff knees where there is no benefit to the high flexion capabilities. In cases where there is severe deformity with anticipated instability, I will often plan on using the LPS femoral component since it is much easier to convert to a LCCK (Legacy Constrained Condylar) knee system to provide stability to the knee if necessary. 

Here is a picture of the LCCK knee from the Zimmer website:

I will review hip implant selection in my next installment.