Apollo Hospitals organised a one-day Arthroscopy Summit (AAS), under the aegis of Telangana Orthopedic Surgeons Association (TOSA) and Twin Cities Orthopedics Society (TCOS), Hyderabad on AUgust 12.
 

Dr Mithin Aachi, Sr Ortho & Joint Replacement Surgeon, Apollo Hospitals, Secunderabad, Dr Vijay C Bose, Co-Director, SIMS Hospital, Chennai, Dr Navaladi Shankar, Apollo Hospitals, Chennai & Dr Gauresh Palekar, Jaslok Hospital, Mumbai briefed media about the latest techniques discussed at the summit.

Dr Mithin Aachi said, arthritis is the most common problem due to aging or injury and total knee replacement was the only option till sometime ago, this Summit focussed on exciting new procedures like Cartilage Replacement and Half Knee Replacement, which are more natural options and simpler surgeries with much better outcomes.

Dr Vijay C Bosesays that in case of Cartilage wear and tear or injury, cartilage replacement is the latest option. The dissipating cartilage, which serves as cushion in the joint between two bones, will lead to friction between them as they come in contact. This can be an excruciating experience, often leading to osteoarthritis and immobility. The problem is commonly experienced by athletes due to overuse or injury and youngsters in the 25 to 30 years age group, who are aggressive on their gym practice. With this new technique a biopsy of the native cartilage of the patient is harvested and cultured for six weeks in the lab. 

Once it has developed, a second surgery is performed to implant the cartilage in the deficient areas. It takes a few weeks to totally integrate and its appearance and composition is like natural cartilage.The pain reduces drastically and the longevity of the joint is enhanced. This ground-breaking surgery greatly reduces the requirement of knee replacement and has far reaching advantages in future for osteoarthritis of the knee, hip and ankle.

According to Dr Gauresh Palekar, an FDA approved technique is used to culture osteoblasts -the cells that develop bone, for treating avascular necrosisof the femoral head, where the bone tissue is dead due to lack of blood supply. Avascular Necrosis is due to usage of steroids or alcohol and is seen mostly in youth, 70% of whom are in 20 to 40 years age group. These osteoblastsare harvested from patient’s own blood, aspirated from Iliac bone. This procedure again prevents a total hip replacement, which would have been necessitated as the problem aggravates in future and not detected in the early stages. 

Dr Navaladi Shankar said, Uni Condylar Knee Replacement or Half Knee Replacement, is another new technique which helps avoid total Knee replacement. This is a minimally invasive technique, where in the damaged portion of the joint, alone is replaced, leaving the healthier portion intact. 

This helps in reducing the pain and minimises the incision for the same, besides lesser blood loss and pain and faster healing and recovery. Also, for the patient this enables him to sit down, play games like tennis and go about with their lives like they did before the knee problem cropped up. Even physiotherapy is not needed after the surgery.

The Summit was attended by over 170 delegates from various parts of India. The faculty comprised of twenty leading practitioners including Dr Vijay Bose and Dr Navaladi Shankar from Chennai, Dr Gauresh Palekar from Mumbai and Dr Magu from Delhi. It helped young orthopedic surgeons to learn and fine tune their skills on the newer techniques.