• An estimated 70 million Americans suffer from arthritis and chronic joint symptoms. Arthritis is the number one cause of disability and 8 million Americans have daily limitations caused by arthritis. Arthritis costs $86 billion annually, with $51 in direct medical costs and $35 billion in indirect medical costs.1

  • Approximately 300,0002 people have one or both knees replaced each year.

  • Total knee replacements save an average of $77,000 per patient in lifetime health care costs, primarily due to the reduced custodial care required by patients.3 With 300,000 patients benefiting from knee replacement surgery per year, the system yields approximately $23.1 billion in lifetime savings.

  • Today, patients experience even more dramatic results due to increasingly minimally invasive techniques. For example, the incisions to insert the joint implants can now be two to three inches instead of the eight to ten inch incisions required for operations in the past.

  1. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “Arthritis Fact Sheet.” http://www.cdc.gov/od/oc/media/pressrel/fs040513.htm (4 May 2006).

  2. American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons. “Total knee replacement fact sheet.” http://orthoinfo.aaos.org/fact/thr_report.cfm?Thread_ID=513&topcategory=Knee (18 April 2006).

  3. Gottlob C, Pellissier J, Chang R, et al. “Long-Term Cost Effectiveness of Total Knee Arthroplasty for the Treatment of Osteoarthritis.” Atlanta, GA: Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons; February 1996.
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