Dr. Tsao explains how she evaluates patients with arthritis to determine if they need knee replacement surgery. Dr. Tsao is a member of the American Association of Hip and Knee Surgeons and cares for patients at Banner Boswell Medical Center in Sun City, Arizona.
Dr. Tsao:
When patients come to see me complaining of knee pain and I need to evaluate them for a knee replacement surgery I will do a history and physical examination and then I will get usually an x-ray. That x-ray will let me see the patient’s knee, both knees, and how they stand and how they are positioned. There are several views we get – AP, which is a front view; lateral, side view; skyline, which is a kneecap view, and most importantly we also will generally get a standing flex view and that’s what the patient putting all the weight of their body on the knee. That allows me generally to see how much space they have in their joint, how much arthritis is there and often times it will give me an idea of what type of arthritis they have.
If I think they have something besides osteoarthritis I may also go to a next level of testing – blood work, to check for something like rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, any of the inflammatory arthritis, and the other thing I might also check for is blood work, such as the white count or an ESR or CRP - all that’s blood work to check for inflammation levels and inflammation levels become critical if you have any history of infection in the knee.
About Dr. Audrey K. Tsao, M.D.:
Audrey Tsao received her engineering degrees in Biomedical Engineering and Materials Science & Engineering from Johns Hopkins University. She attended medical school at Cornell University and completed her orthopaedic residency at Northwestern University in Chicago. She returned to Johns Hopkins University to complete a fellowship in Arthritis and Adult reconstruction surgery.
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Keywords:
Conditions: Arthritis, Osteoarthritis
Related Terms: Knee Replacement, Hip Replacement, Partial Knee Replacement, Total Knee Replacement, Partial Hip Replacement, Total Hip Replacement, Hip Reconstruction, Knee Reconstruction, Minimally Invasive Surgery, Physical Therapy
Health Care Provider: Banner Boswell, Boswell Medical Center, Banner Boswell Medical Center
Locations: Surprise, Glendale, Litchfield Park, Peoria, Phoenix, Sun City, Arizona, 85351
Expert: Dr. Audrey Tsao, Dr. Audrey K. Tsao, M.D., Audrey Tsao, M.D, Orthopedic Surgeon Audrey Tsao, Dr. Tsao
Expertise: Orthopedic Surgery, Arthritis, Osteoarthris, Partial Knee Replacement, Total Knee Replacement, Partial Hip Replacement, Total Hip Replacement, Knee Reconstruction, Hip Reconstruction, Muscle Sparing Surgery
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