Bilateral Knee replacement is no more a matter of Age. Rare Surgery at Indraprastha Apollo Hospitals, New Delhi gives new lease of life to a 93-year old man

S N Bhatt, a 93 year old man from Bhilai came to Indraprastha Apollo Hospitals, Delhi with a 10 year history of progressive knee pain and deformity in both the legs. A multidisciplinary team of Dr. Raju Vaishya, Senior Consultant, Orthopedics at Indraprastha Apollo Hospitals carried out a successful Bilateral Total Knee Arthroplasty in a single sitting.

Mr. Bhatt who is a retired college principal and has always led an active life. Apart from having keen interest in horses, he was an avid hockey player and had played with the legendary, Dhyanchand. He came to the Hospital in April 2010 and was diagnosed with severe arthritis of both the knees and has been unable to walk for the last 10 years. He had been confined to using a wheel chair to ambulate for the past one year.

The surgery performed is one of its kinds as Mr. Bhatt is the one of the oldest men in India to have undergone this procedure. It proves the point that in some selected and determined patients with good medical condition, it is possible to replace both the knees in single stage even at the age of 93.

Usually, patients of such an old age are not recommended to undergo this surgery because of the complications involved. Owing to Mr. Bhatt’s good medical condition, the doctor decided to go ahead with the operation. “On evaluation and pre assessment it was found that due to extreme deformity in both knees caused by arthritis, the patient was unable to walk. The only option available was a total knee replacement surgery which is not suggested to patients over 90 years and is very rarely performed. Apart from controlled hypertension, he did not have any other co-morbid problems. So we decided to perform a single staged bilateral total knee replacement surgery post discussions with the patient and his son,” said Dr. Raju Vaishya, Senior Consultant, Orthopedics, Indraprastha Apollo Hospitals. “While operating, we found bone defects in the tibia. These were corrected through bone grafting,” added Dr Vaishya.

Mr. Bhatt underwent a 3 hour surgery on 14th April 2011 under spinal/epidural anesthesia. At surgery, huge bone defects in the tibia were found which also required bone grafting. Bilateral Total knee replacement, or total knee arthroplasty, is a surgical procedure in which parts of the knee joint are replaced with artificial parts (prostheses).”The patient started walking after 4 days of surgery and his knee deformities have been fully corrected. His post-surgical period and the surgery went successfully,” said Dr. Raju Vaishya.

Mr. Bhatt feels that these new pair of knees have given him a new lease of life and with his positive frame of mind, he feels that it would be possible for him to lead his life comfortably without any pain and disability.