Tamil Nadu   

Prosthesis allows complete bending of the knee

Ramya Kannan

Along with computer-navigated surgery produces exceptional results

CHENNAI: Kantha (name changed) struggles to slide off her hospital bed and stand on her feet as two sturdy attendants help her. The moment her left feet touches the ground, she cries out, tears flowing down her cheeks.

Across the corridor, in another room, a slightly overweight man walks up to the door and takes near-confident strides in the long corridor. He limps slightly and the scar on one knee is healing. He can afford to laugh, something he could not, before the total knee replacement (with enhanced mobility) operation.

For patients like them, who need total knee replacements, here is yet another technological advancement that will make a huge difference to the quality of life, post-surgery.

Latest innovation

Mohan Das, founder, MIOT Hospitals, says demand from the medical community has resulted in the latest innovation: a prosthesis that enables complete bending of the knee. At MIOT, use of the prosthesis along with computer-navigated surgery has produced exceptional results.

In Asian and West Asian cultures, people usually bend their knee more often than in the West, Dr. Mohan Das, an orthopaedic, says. So complete knee bending is a pre-requisite for patients undergoing knee replacement. Technically, the knee implant will allow bending up to 155 degrees, as close to normal as one can get. It will allow near-full squatting, cross-leg postures and activities such as gardening, playing golf or kneeling in prayer, motions that require up to 130-150 degrees of flexion.

Barry Rosario, director, Centre for Joint Replacement Surgery, MIOT, says with appropriate physiotherapy and aggressive rehabilitation, a patient can resume an active lifestyle after total knee replacement.

C. Lenin, Director, MIOT Centre for Knee Surgery and Sports Medicine, says the procedure substantially reduces pain and time of recovery.

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