By anyone’s account, Catherine Kornyei has lived an active life. A student of modern dance for more than 15 years, she also has played tennis and squash, is both a downhill and cross-country skier and enjoys walking and bicycle riding.

But as Kornyei entered her 50s, all that activity began to take its toll on her body. The cartilage in her knees wore away to nothing, causing bone to scrape against bone with every movement. Even water aerobics became painful.

“I couldn’t even take my grandson to the zoo without being in pain,” Kornyei said. “I couldn’t exercise, I gained weight and my knees became even more painful.”

A visit to Greg Johnson, MD, an orthopedic surgeon at Tobey Hospital, revealed that Kornyei was a candidate for total knee replacement in both legs. And a new computer navigation system in place at Tobey has assured that her new knees are aligned to virtually natural degrees.

	“I am looking forward to a new beginning with my new knees.” — Catherine Kornyei .

“Accuracy in aligning the knee is key to a successful, long-lasting knee replacement,” Dr. Johnson said. “It has been shown that an alignment that is more than three degrees off has a higher risk of earlier failure.”

Computer-assisted surgery allows surgeons to align knees within one degree on the normal axis. During surgery, a wand is passed over the exposed knee to create a detailed image on a computer screen. Physicians use that real-time image to determine the most accurate place to cut bone in order to fit a metal and plastic implant where cartilage used to be. The degree of that cut determines how well the knee is aligned.

While 80 percent of traditional knee surgeries fall within the three-degree range, the extra couple of degrees offered by computer navigation can be very valuable for some patients.

“Patients whose knees have a high degree of deformity and are difficult to align properly with standard equipment and younger patients who want to maximize longevity are good candidates for computer-assisted surgery,” Dr. Johnson said.

Eager to return to a more active lifestyle, Kornyei was happy to have the option of increased accuracy. The Wareham resident had one knee replaced in June and the other in September and is currently doing landbased physical therapy at Southcoast Rehab on Recovery Way and aquatic therapy at the Southcoast program at the Gleason YMCA.