Apollo Hospitals, Hyderabad successfully performed a double hip surgery on a Somalian patient using the Direct Hip Anterior Procedure, a first of its kind in India.

The Apollo Health City team at Jubilee Hills, Hyderabad was led by Dr. P. Sharat Kumar, Consultant Orthopedic Surgeon who performed the double hip replacement using the latest minimally invasive procedure – the Direct Hip Anterior.

Both hips of Mr. Mukhtar Hilowli were fused following a severe bout of infection, way back in 1986. The hip joint comprises of femoral head (ball like) and acetabulum(socket). For easy movement of the hips the, femoral head moves in the acetabulum. In his case, due to the infection in both right and left hip joints, normal cartilage on the femoral head and acetabulum were destroyed and caused fusion of femoral head and acetabulum. This deprived him of the normal hip joint movement.

The fusing of hips joints led to his hips losing the natural manoeuvrability and made his day to day life miserable. He had an abnormal gait on account of this, which made movement on both his legs arduous. His normal routine was impaired during the prime of his life and he had to endure the trauma for the last 31 years. His ordeal amplified in recent times, as he also developed pain in both knee joints and lower back, which was due to his abnormal posture and excess stress on these joints.

After exhausting various options of treatment, he approached Dr. Paripati Sharat Kumar on December 29th, 2017. After thorough examination and investigations, Mr. Hilowli underwent sequential bilateral total hip replacements, with the right hip being replaced first on December 30th, 2017, followed by the left hip replacement on February 15th, 2018.

According to Dr. Sharat, the conversion of a fused hip joint is extremely complex and challenging due to excess blood loss, poor bone and soft tissue quality, difficulty in orientation as evidence of joint surface is completely obliterated. As the joints had fused more than 3 decades ago, the surgery itself was quite demanding.

In a first of its kind in India, Dr. Sharat used the latest and minimally invasive procedure – Direct anterior approach. This is considered the most preferred choice in hip surgery off-late, globally. The conventional approach involves making a long incision and cutting muscle that supports and stabilizes the hip joint. Whereas in direct anterior approach, the muscles are separated to reach and expose the hip joint through a 3 to 4-inch incision on the front of the hip. He elected this approach as the patient’s strength was poor around his hips and the joint stability would be further compromised by the conventional approach. Also pain and bleeding is relatively less and rehabilitation is quicker. The patient has since recovered well and is undergoing physiotherapy and rehabilitation. He is eagerly looking forward to go home and is wondering what his friends and relatives would call him now as he was for 3 decades nicknamed “the Crooked Gaited” says Dr. Sharat.