The Hindu : Midhani's space technology used in cancer treatment

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Feb 13, 2004

Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

Midhani's space technology used in cancer treatment

By Our Staff Reporter

HYDERABAD, FEB. 12 . Titanium alloys used for building India's space rockets and satellites were used recently to provide an artificial leg to an 18-year- old boy whose leg bone had cancer.

In a rare operation done at Apollo Hospital at Jubilee Hills recently, the cancer-infested leg bone and knee joint of Vijay was removed and replaced with a prosthesis developed by engineers at Midhani's Biomedical division.

This prosthesis, which has been developed in India for the first time, has been appropriately named `Apollo-Midhani Prosthesis'.

Explaining the entire process at a press conference here on Thursday, Vijay Anand P. Reddy, director, Apollo Cancer Hospital said that this cancer, technically called Osteosarcoma, develops generally among young boys and affects the bones of the leg and knee.

Earlier, the only option was to amputate the leg in an attempt to stop the spread of cancerous tissues.

But now the attempt is to save the limb by replacing the cancer affected bone with a metal prosthesis, Dr. Reddy said.

This operation is very rare as it requires very skilful separation of bone from muscle and nerve tissue.

The prosthesis which has to be custom built for each person according to the specific measurements of the patient's body, had to be imported at a cost of Rs. 1.3 lakhs putting it beyond most people.

It is here that Midhani came to the rescue of this young agriculturalist from Sangareddy by producing a Titanium prosthesis at only Rs. 26,000. Raghavaiah, DGM, Midhani said that Titanium is lighter, stronger and more durable than steel, which is usually used as replacement for bone.

He added that in the four years since its founding, the biomedical division has developed over 1,000 such medical products and designs using cutting edge alloys in an effort to bring the advances of space science closer to the common man.

The entire cost of the operation, as well as the cost of the prosthesis, was borne by the not-for-profit Cure Foundation.

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