The Hindu : Karnataka / Mysore News : Surgery brings back life to his legs

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Jul 23, 2004

Karnataka

Karnataka - Mysore

Surgery brings back life to his legs

By Our Staff Correspondent

MYSORE, JULY 22. A rare deformity in the lower limbs of a 14-year-old boy was successfully treated with the latest surgical technique at K.R. Hospital here recently.

In a statement issued here, T. Manjunath, professor and orthopaedic surgeon, Government Medical College and K.R. Hospital, Mysore, said Naveen, who not only had deformity in the lower limbs, but also experienced pain while walking, approached the hospital two months ago.

Dr. Manjunath said the boy's parents noticed pus formation in his knee joints 10 days after his birth. Subsequently, the knee joints were treated with pus aspiration. But the complaint recurred a month later and the parents chose to adopt a conservative line of treatment like administering oral antibiotics. The boy began walking by the age of one and was asymptomatic till the age of five.

After five years, the boy's parents noticed a deformity in the lower limbs, which affected his walking.

They consulted many orthopaedicians, and finally took him to the K.R. Hospital. On examination, Dr. Manjunath found the right thigh (femur) of the boy short by 11 cm compared with the left one.

Also, the left leg (tibia) was five cm shorter than the right leg.

The inward bending of the left leg from the knee-joint was about 40 degrees, Dr. Manjunath said, and added that it was a rare disability.

Dr. Manjunath advised surgery to rectify the disability. For the right thigh (femur), which was short by 11 cm, limb reconstruction system external fixator (LRS) was suggested for lengthening of thigh. For the left leg (tibia), which was short by 5 cm, the boy was advised Ilizarov technique to lengthen the leg as well as bending of the left leg from knee joint.

The boy was operated upon. From the fifth day of surgery, a one-mm compression was carried out daily, leading to lengthening of the femur by four cm. Simultaneously, a one-mm daily compression was also carried out at the site of cutting of the bone in the leg (tibia) between two proximal rings, leading to a correction of inward bending of the leg.

The left tibia had become longer by five mm, Dr. Manjunath said.

"Naveen, with two external fixators on his lower limbs, walks with the help of a walker. He is expected to carry out his day-to-day activities like others in four months," Dr. Manjunath said.

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