Rather than simply making a decision on whether to have a hip or knee replacement, people also must decide where to have it done. For, to make quick buck, many surgeons with limited skill-set and infrastructure support have started conducting joint replacements at the cost of patients’ health.
Data speaks for themselves. Of around 1,500 knee and hip transplant surgeries conducted annually at the country’s premier hospital, All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Delhi, at least 25 per cent are revision surgeries of the patients who had undergone procedures at private facilities. In revision surgery or second surgery existing implant is replaced with another one.
And, this is just a tip of the iceberg. Rough estimates show that over 1,20,000 knee replacement procedures, and about 70,000 hip procedures, take place every year in India.
Dr CS Yadav, Professor, Department of Orthopedics, AIIMS, Delhi said that the knee and hip joint replacement surgeries have to be done appropriately and are very precise procedure to bring mobility to the patient.
But as many doctors are not very expert in the field, their patients are coming to us with complaints of dislocation, infection, stiffness and lack of mobility post surgeries. So there is a need to train young and experienced arthroplasty surgeons to carry out correct knee and hip replacement surgeries.
To enhance the skill of the arthroplasty surgeons, a two-day 10th AIIMS Cadever Arthroplasty course was kicked off from Sunday at the AIIMS here.
One of the main features of the workshop is that experts will use cadaver (dead bodies) to teach the technicalities of total hip and knee joint replacement. Eminent international and national faculty including Biju Peter and Prakash Chandran (UK), El Sayad Morsi and Ibrahim Gado(Egypt) and Rian Wilfred Smit will share their expertise to the students at the workshop on Monday.
Dr Yadav said that as it is more difficult to correct the revision cases, it is important that best tricks and techniques are shared to the budding arthroplasty surgeon to cut down the number of revision surgeries. “During this cadaver arthroplasty course- 2018, we will also emphasise on practical aspect, interactive learning and the problems faced by surgeons,” he said.
According to doctors, revision surgery is more complicated than the initial operation as it involves the removal of the old prosthesis and insertion of a new one. Also, since tissues grow around the old knee replacement prosthesis, extracting it safely becomes a challenge.
According to a report, over three crore arthritic patients in India are in need of knee replacement surgery. More than half of the patients needing knee and hip replacements are women, particularly housewife or those living a sedentary lifestyle. Regular exercise and balanced food diet is the key to avoid the need for hip and joint replacement.