Bumrungrad Upgrades ‘AAA - Advanced Arthritis & Arthroplasty Center’ to No. 1 in Asia, Raising 3-D Care to World-Class Standards Via our team of specialized surgeons & innovative robotic-assisted surgery, we provide personalized care, accurate diagnoses, fast recovery times, and reduced complications.

According to the World Health Organization, back in 2019, about 528 million people worldwide had osteoarthritis — with about 73% being over 55 years of age and 60% being women. In Thailand, over 6 million people suffer from osteoarthritis. Research shows that 70% of knee pain cases do not receive proper treatment, potentially leading to more serious issues over the long run.

Mr. Barry Wolfman, Senior Executive Director of Operations of Bumrungrad International Hospital, gave the opening speech at the press conference titled “Move Freely, Live Fully” At the Advanced Arthritis & Arthroplasty Center (AAA), we help patients regain mobility and a good quality of life, to help patients regain their mobility and high quality of life – an important need in Thailand, which has become an aging society. The elderly account for 20.7% of the population (13.65 million people) and age-related osteoarthritis (especially of the knee and hip joints) has become a major problem that is increasing in severity. Although not life-threatening, if not treated properly, osteoarthritis will significantly impair patient quality of life. With a commitment to returning our patients to a high quality of life, Bumrungrad International Hospital founded the Advanced Arthritis and Arthroplasty Center (AAA), headed by Prof. Aree Tanavalee, MD. The AAA’s team of international specialists leverages modern technology such as robotic-assisted surgery and minimally invasive surgical technique to combine with minimal pain arthroplasty to provide comprehensive osteoarthritis treatment, from early-stage disease through difficult and complex cases.

This year, Bumrungrad International Hospital was ranked number 1 out of 90 hospitals on Newsweek’s Asia’s Top Private Hospitals 2025 list for Knee Surgery & Knee Replacement and Hip Surgery & Hip Replacement. This is a great source of pride, and this success reflects Bumrungrad International Hospital’s commitment to continue developing treatments through the collaboration of medical teams and multidisciplinary professionals to ensure our patients receive quality, safe, and individualized care which allows them to return to high quality of life.

Prof. Aree Tanavalee, MD, an arthroplasty specialist and director of the Advanced Arthritis & Arthroplasty Center at Bumrungrad International Hospital, interestingly revealed that osteoarthritis of the knee and hip is not limited to the elderly patients. It also includes working-age people who have sedentary lifestyles and those who play sports with incorrect posture/mechanics. These factors accelerate the onset of osteoarthritis, making osteoarthritis a problem for people of all ages. If not properly cared for early on, osteoarthritis will lead to restricted movement, deformity, and negatively impact daily life.

AAA - Advanced Arthritis & Arthroplasty Center: Innovative Comprehensive Joint Care 

The Bumrungrad Advanced Arthritis & Arthroplasty Center focuses on delivering comprehensive patient care through a team of internationally recognized orthopedic surgeons who collaborate with a multidisciplinary team using a case conference system to jointly plan targeted treatment. We also use monthly monitoring meetings to develop treatment guidelines and service quality.

The center also utilizes modern technological innovations such as the combining of minimally invasive surgery (MIS) and minimal pain arthroplasty to enable the use of opioid-free anesthesia — which reduces or eliminates morphine use. This unique technique, which was developed by Bumrungrad International Hospital, helps reduce postoperative pain, helping patients recover more quickly and allowing them to begin walking within 10 hours after surgery. The center also has a recovery program called the Milestone Recovery Program, which focuses on 3 main parts before patients can be discharged: Patient Safety (ensuring the utmost safety for patients), Patient Ability (ensuring patients can achieve proper mobility), and Patient Confidence (ensuring long-term results for patients). These protocols help deliver high-quality and sustainable treatment results.

Complex Joint Surgery and Joint Replacement: Specialization to Restore Quality of Life

Charlee Sumettavanich, MD, an arthroplasty specialist at Bumrungrad International Hospital, spoke of the importance of knee and hip surgery in complex primary cases, which requires extensive experience and precise planning covering a multitude of dimensions. Complex primary joint replacements are very challenging, especially cases such as congenital hip dislocation, congenital or accidental knee or hip deformities, and cases presenting co-morbidly with osteoporosis, which require special techniques to implant artificial joints, or joints with dense fibrosis or previous infections, requiring special care in material selection and to reduce the risk of re-infection; as well as joints with abnormal range-of-motion that are at risk of dislocation of the artificial joint. All of these cases require the care of a team of specialized doctors skilled in handling these challenges.

In addition, revision joint replacement surgery requires high expertise. Although the survival rate of artificial knee and hip replacement is as high as 95% over 10-15 years, over time, the artificial joints may develop looseness, dislocation, infection, or fracture of the surrounding bone.

This revision surgery is much more complicated than the initial implantation because it requires removing old tissue, taking care of the resulting scar tissue, and dealing with damaged bones, and the risk of infection. The Bumrungrad Advanced Arthritis & Arthroplasty Center is fully equipped with personnel, technology, and a standardized care system, from pre-operative preparation to post-operative complication control, so patients can return to their lives with stability, safety, and the best possible quality of life.

Revolutionizing Joint Surgery: Robotic-Assisted Technology Boost Precision and Efficiency

Asst. Prof. Srihatach Ngarmukos, MD, an arthroplasty specialist at Bumrungrad International Hospital, emphasized the importance of Robotic-Assisted Joint Replacement technology to treat patients with Total Hip Replacement, Unicompartment Knee Arthroplasty, and Total Knee Arthroplasty. The use of robotic-assisted technology in these procedures not only increases the accuracy of the placement of the artificial joint and reduces the chances of short- and long-term complications, but also results in a smaller surgical wound, less injury to the patient, less blood loss, faster recovery, and the ability to move naturally. In addition, the collaboration of robotic surgery with CT 3D pre-operative planning technology allows doctors to plan and perform surgeries more accurately, both in the placement of the artificial joint and the necessary bone grafting, which reduces blood loss, extends the life of the artificial joint, and leads to the best treatment results for patients throughout time.

Comprehensive Care for a Better Quality of Life: Examples of Successful Joint Surgery

Surapoj Meknavin, MD, an arthroplasty specialist at Bumrungrad International Hospital, talked about Bumrungrad’s seamless patient journey and personalized care approach, which covers everything from diagnosis to rehabilitation and follow-up to ensure patient safety, speedy recovery, reduced complications, and shortened the hospital stays, to significantly reduce patient financial burden and stress. Our outstanding clinical, such as a surgical site infection rate of 0.69% (compared to 1.03% for leading hospitals in the United States), venous thromboembolism during hospitalization rate of 0.40% (compared to 1.62% for leading hospitals in the United States), and an unplanned re-operation within 30-day rate of 0% (compared to 1.18% for leading hospitals in the United States) results reflect the quality of treatment. In addition, the center aims for patients to be able to walk using a walking aid for a distance of at least 15 meters within 3 days of surgery, which demonstrates our commitment to returning our patients to their best quality of life sustainably.

For more information about treatment, please contact the Advanced Arthritis & Arthroplasty Center at Bumrungrad International Hospital, located on the 20th floor of Building A. You can also reach us by calling +66 2 011 3094 or the 1378 hotline.