Question
As I have AS since I was 16 years old and I am 61 now I have the most problem with my knee.I was diagnosed to have osteoarthritis. I can’t hardly walk anymore and I am thinking of getting a knee replacement I am anxious that if I would get a knee replacement, if that would fix my problem or would the tissue and bones around the artificial knee still be affected with inflammations and is such an operation useless for me because I have AS. My knee now gets stiff and makes saw like noises. The quality of my life is diminished and I am depressed about it. Can you help me with an answer?
Answer
Hi Margret,
You ask a very good question for which we don’t have all the answers yet. An “end stage” knee – one that has no cartilage left and that is chronically painful from osteoarthritis – is best treated with a knee replacement, even in the face of ankylosing spondylitis. Vigorous anti-inflammatory treatment before and after sugery is important, though, to try and minimize new bone formation around the artificial joint, though we don’t know for sure that our medications completely prevent this from happening.
