WCAU-TV

6:44 p.m. EDT May 10, 2006

PHILADELPHIA - For the very first time in the world, surgeons in Philadelphia have implanted a total knee replacement designed just for a woman.

Women get two-thirds of all knee replacements, but the parts put in women's knees have previously been designed for a man and they have not fit very well.

Pennsylvania Hospital's chief of orthopedic surgery, Dr. Robert Booth, led the team that designed a knee replacement just for women. He said it is a big step closer to making women feel like they have a natural knee.

Mercedes Levis had excruciating pain in her knees. She said she was thrilled to be one of the first women in the world to receive a knee replacement designed especially for a woman.

Booth told NBC 10 medical reporter Cherie Bank that men and women are designed differently. He said that a woman's legs are lined up to accommodate her wider hips. Women's arms are also different from men. In women, the arms fall to their side on an angle and men's arms fall straight.

That's why Booth has been working for years to design the women's knee implants. Booth performs more knee replacements than anyone in the world.

In knee replacement surgery, metal is used to substitute for cartilage. A man's knee is usually wider than a woman's, according to Booth.

Booth has developed a high-flex female knee that is angled and shaped for a woman's more-delicate bone.

"It is narrow in this direction so it doesn't overhang the bone. It fits the shape of the female knee, which is narrower in the front. It's also thinner up front," Booth said.

"By making it fit more naturally, I think the knee is going to feel better and if the knee is comfortable it will function better. People will be able to exercise more and do more things because they're not limited either by discomfort or the fear that discomfort signals something wrong with the knee," Booth said.

The women's knee implants are officially called Gender Solutions.

The Food and Drug Administration has approved the implants, and they will be implanted by Booth and his team in the spring and summer. They will be available around the world by fall.

Female Knee Replacements

JonR