What is patient-specific instrumentation used for?

Before surgery, imaging of your joint can be used to create a three-dimensional plan. The surgical team reviews the proposed alignment and guides, which are shaped to match features of your bone. In the operating room, a guide can help mark or direct the planned bone preparation for the implant. It supports the surgeon's plan but does not make decisions independently, and the surgeon may adjust the approach if the findings during surgery differ from the plan. This technology is commonly discussed in relation to knee replacement planning.

Ask whether your images are suitable for planning, what the guides are expected to change, and whether standard instruments would also be appropriate. Share previous operations, stiffness, deformity, allergies, and medical conditions with the team. Follow instructions for medicines, skin preparation, transport, and rehabilitation. Bring questions about alignment, implant choice, and the recovery milestones that matter for your work and daily activities.

After joint replacement, contact the care team for increasing wound redness, drainage, fever, or sudden deterioration in pain or movement. Seek urgent help for chest pain, breathlessness, severe calf swelling, a cold or discoloured limb, or new weakness or numbness.

Ask how the imaging plan was made, what the customised guides will do, how alignment will be checked, what happens if the guide does not fit as expected, and which rehabilitation steps follow surgery.