Written By: Shraddha Rupavate | Updated : June 20, 2014 11:39 AM IST
*Picture for representational purposes only.
Lata (name changed), a 40 year old lady, was suffering from arthritis for the past 20 years. She did not take any proper treatment and neglected her health due to her responsibilities towards her family. Prolonged negligence caused her to be bed-ridden for the next 5 years.
She was brought to Dr Shailendra Patil, Joint Replacement Surgeon at Wockhardt hospital, Vashi with burnout secondary osteoarthritis of the hip, knee and the shoulder joint. After medical investigation, it was revealed that she was suffering from severe rheumatoid arthritis.
The challenging decision
Because of the severity of the disease, Dr Patil and his team decided to operate her knees and hip with minimally invasive technique. This is the first case in India, where doctors decided to take a risk of performing 4 replacement surgeries in a patient within 14 days.
'Before the operation, the patient was bedridden for 5 long years. So, the surgery was extremely difficult. She had very low hemoglobin (Hb) levels. Her left knee had been operated previously for a fracture and a plate had been inserted. So we knew that her bone quality was very poor,' he explained.
Doctors operated her in 3 stages:
Lata could stand up on her feet. She went home walking after 14 days of hospital stay with minimum support of stick. Today she is able to perform all kinds of activities on her own. She is leading an independent life again.
What's making arthritis so common?
In India, over 60 percent of the population above the age of 50 years suffers from severe pain in the hip and the knee. Likewise, over 10 million people are affected by one or another form of locomotive disability.
Dr Patil says, 'Sedentary lifestyle, little exposure to the sun, poor eating habits and lack of exercise not only causes lifestyle disorders like hypertension and diabetes but also is a major reason for the early onset of osteoarthritis in Indians, especially in women.
'For a long time, it was believed that only the elderly population requires total knee replacement surgery (TKR). But today, in a worldwide phenomenon, we are observing that 70 to 80 percent of patients undergoing TKR are 50 years of age and above,' he said. In extreme cases, we have observed that the age group has as touched as low as 20 and 30 years. Also, obesity has become a major factor in knee replacement cases in age group of 40-50 years in last two decades, he said.
Your life doesn't have to be all about osteoarthritis. There's much you can do to enjoy a better quality of life. By learning about the disease and making some changes you can live well.
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