New Technique of knee replacement gets American Church official back on his feet within one week

An American Church official is back on his feet after double knee replacements within a week after surgery in India.

True, Indian Doctors are as efficient as their American counterparts in providing efficient orthopedic surgery.

GW, a 55 year old church official from the headquarters of the Episcopal Church in New York, was struck down by osteoarthritis due to repeated acts of kneeling during service. American Doctors had failed to provide him pain relief and insisted that he wait until he turned 70 to get his knees replaced. G's  pain levels spoke for him and he decided to not to suffer any more. He contacted Dr.A.K.Venkatachalam, an Indian orthopedic surgeon of www.kneeindia.com after locating him through a Google search for “Knee surgery in India”

Within a week after arrival in India he had both knees replaced through painless bone preserving surgery and a week later, he is walking without any aids. He is so satisfied with the service in Chennai’s hospital that he plans to be an advocate of its services after his return to the US later this month.

Gary had heard from other patients back home that Knee replacement surgery is infamous for being painful, requiring a long, involved recovery period and leaving a big scar.
But to his utter surprise the surgical technique practiced by his Indian surgeon didn’t do that.  It left only a 5 inch long scar and the post-op period was totally painless. He could thus leave the hospital in 5 days, skipping the rehabilitation facility and is walking without a cane in one week

Although knee replacement has been practiced since the late seventies in India, only recently after the double knee replacements for an Ex-Indian Prime Minister in the year 2000, by an American surgeon, did the operation gain some popularity or non popularity amongst Indians. Many in India are still unimpressed observers as they see that their former PM still walks like a robot. Not many are aware of the benefits of traditional knee surgery itself leave alone Minimally invasive knee replacements. So despite difficult circumstances if some surgeon hones his skills to raise his standards of surgery to that of his peers in the West, it is highly commendable.

Most importantly the real philosophy behind minimally invasive knee surgery is still not well known amongst Indian surgeons.  Says Dr.A.K.Venkatachalam, MD, FRCS, MS, MCh Orth an Indian surgeon who trained in the UK and who performed the surgery on Gary, “The best results of knee surgery have to be re-duplicated through less invasive approaches”. The real value of these new techniques is improved function. I don't put a lot of emphasis on having a small incision alone. I want good results with reduced complications.

A KINDER CUT

Traditional knee replacement
Incision: 8-10 inches
Quadriceps: split
Hospital stay: 3-4 days
Rehab facility: 3-4 days
Crutches or walker: 3-4 weeks
Cane: 2 weeks
Physical therapy: 2-3 months
Minimally invasive treatment
Incision: 4-6 inches
Quadriceps: left intact or split for 2 cm only
Hospital stay: 2-3 days
Rehab facility: rarely needed
Crutches/walker: 1 week
Cane: 1-2 weeks
Physical therapy: 6 weeks
For more information, go to www.kneeindia.com