The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : Hip bone removal, a thing of the past

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Oct 12, 2007
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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Hip bone removal, a thing of the past

Staff Reporter

CHENNAI: While the average age of those requiring hip replacement surgeries in the West is 65 years, in Asia it is around 35 years. Seventy per cent of those requiring the surgery in Asia are male.

People using steroids or those who have met with road accidents need it. Asians are genetically prone to arthritis. At Apollo Hospital’s Asian Regional Centre for Hip Resurfacing, the youngest patient was a 12-year-old girl who complained of pain and inability to move, consultant orthopaedic surgeon Vijay C. Bose said here on Thursday. Initially, patients complain of pain after a long walk but it gradually progresses so that they have pain even while resting, he told presspersons to whom he introduced his two American patients Roger Fiack and Paul Tarrell.

Gone are the days when orthopaedic surgeons removed the arthritic hip bone to relieve pain. One of the new methods is to introduce prosthesis without taking away the arthritic bone and ensure that normal life is not compromised.

At the Asian Regional Centre for Hip Resurfacing these procedures, known as Birmingham hip resurfacing (BHR) surgeries, are being done since 2000. “In the past seven years, Apollo has performed 1,000 BHRs and mid-hip resurfacing surgeries in contrast to the conventional 600 hip replacement surgeries,” said Dr.Bose. Mr. Fiack and Mr. Tarrell came to Apollo because American hospitals did not offer BHR surgeries until recently. The men, both in their early 60s, will return to their routine when they go home, Dr.Bose said.

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