I recently had the opportunity to give lectures in Fukuoka Japan, and Vienna Austria on partial and full knee replacements. It was a wonderful experience to go to prestigious international meetings on almost opposite sides of the world. I found it most interesting that the attitudes toward partial knee replacement are very different in these very different countries. In Japan, surgeons tend to be fairly conservative. They favor osteotomies or realignment of the bones in younger patients who have partially arthritic knees. In Europe, surgeons are much more in favor of partial knee replacement, because of the quicker and more predictable recovery.My talk on partial knees was very well received in Vienna, while it took much more explaining and convincing in Japan. I think it’s very healthy for surgeons to have different opinions and attitudes about implants and operations. It encourages us to constantly examine what we are doing and make sure we know exactly why we are recommending different treatments for different patients. I always try to customize each patient’s treatment and not just recommend the same total knee replacement for every patient with arthritis. It’s nice to know that there are so many surgeons around the world who have the same attitude.