Mini-subvastus approach for minimally invasive total knee replacement

Interest in minimally invasive surgery knee replacements has increased substantially among the public, patients, industry, and orthopedic surgeons in recent years. A variety of techniques for performing minimally invasive surgery knee replacements have been described. We describe our surgical technique of mini-subvastus approach for total knee replacement, which eliminates quadriceps disruption, avoids patella eversion, and reduces the length of skin incision, yet it still affords excellent visualization of the knee. When combined with optimal analgesia and early and aggressive rehabilitation, it may result in improved early functional outcome without compromising long-term results of total knee replacements.