R ARIVANANTHAM
CHENNAI, AUG 12
Chennai-based Sivam Hospital has on Monday announced successfully performing a ‘Revision Total Hip Replacement Surgery’ on an 82-year-old woman.
The woman was admitted to the hospital with complaints of left hip pain and inability to walk for the past six months. After diagnosis, doctors found that her hip implants are loosened and extensive osteolysis in the acetabulam and proxymal femur.
Ms Chithra, a resident of Madipakkam in Chennai underwent her initial hip replacement surgery 13 years ago after a hip fracture. Doctors gave her an uncemented hip replacement, which creates a permanent bond between the implant and the skeleton without cement.
A team of medicos including Physician and cardiologist examined the patient and found her fit to undergo the surgery. After getting opinion of experts, the revision total hip replacement surgery was carried out by a group of orthopaedic surgeons led by Dr V. Sivakumar, Senior Joint Replacement Surgeon. The surgery was successful and was done within 4 hours. The patient is now undergoing regular physio exercises for one month to back to her normal routine life.
Dr V Sivakumar, Senior Joint Replacement Surgeon said, “Since the patient had severe pain, we planned to perform revision total hip replacement surgery immediately. We had to deal with extensive bone loss in the acetabulam and the femur. There was extensive black debris due to metallosis and soft tissue scarring. Uncemented implants were used for the acetabulam and cemented implant was used for the femur. She is recovering well from the surgery.”
Reply to a query, Dr Sivakumar said that normal life of a ‘Total Hip Replacement Surgery’ last for over 15 years, however, Ms Chithra was very active in her day to day activities, the replacement got weakened and damaged and necessitates revision. The ‘Total Hip Replacement Surgery’ and ‘Revision Total Hip Replacement Surgery’ are covered under the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister’s Comprehensive Health Insurance Scheme, he added.
Revision total hip replacement aims to remove some or all the parts of the original prosthesis and replace them with new ones. It significantly helps to relieve hip pain, extend the life span of new prosthesis as well as to improve patient’s function and quality of life, Dr Sivakumar added.
