Hyderabad, September 2023: Apollo Hospitals, Secunderabad;in association with the Apollo Institute of Medical Sciences and Research (AIMSR); hosted the one-day 7th Arthroplasty Arthroscopy Summit 2023 (AAS), under the aegis of the Telangana Orthopaedic Surgeon’s Association (TOSA) and Twin Cities Orthopaedic Society (TCOS), today at AIMSR, Jubilee Hills. Dr Mithin Aachi, Course Director, AAS and Sr. Ortho & Joint Replacement Surgeon, Apollo Hospitals, Secunderabad; Dr N. Somashekar Reddy, Organizing Chairman, AAS and Sr. Ortho & Joint Replacement Surgeon, Apollo Hospitals, Hyderabad; Prof SS Mohanty, KEM Hospital, Mumbai; Dr Sunil Kini, Manipal Hospitals, Bangalore; Dr Debashish Chandra, CK Birla Hospital, Gurgoan and Dr Swapnil Keny, KB Bhabha Hospitals, Reliance Foundation Hospitals, Mumbai; briefed media about the latest techniques discussed at the summit.
The Summit was attended by over a hundred orthopaedic surgeons from across Telangana including several young ortho professionals. The thrust of this year’s Conference is on teaching young orthopaedic surgeons the latest surgical techniques. Close to50 Orthopaedic Procedures and techniques were imparted under one roof in a day, by renowned national and local faculty.
This exhaustive teaching exercise is aimed to guide young orthopaedic surgeons in honing their knowledge and aptitude regarding correct indications and techniques of surgery. Our conference over the years has received immense patronage from the delegates for the valuable insights they gain here, whilehelping multiple students in gaining precision, says Dr N. Somashekar Reddy. This Summit is focusing on treating joint problems without resorting to knee or hip replacement surgeries. The deliberations were on how to grow cartilage between the joints and provide relief to the patients who can be managed without joint replacement and in cases where joint replacement is mandatory, is there a difference in robotic and regular surgeries.
The Summit focussed on newer frontiers in orthopaedic care using technology, especially robotic and AI dependant treatments, to enable greater surgical precision, speedy patient recovery and reduce the burden of treatment cost on patients. Robotic Knee Replacement as a new revolution in joint replacement surgery aims at accuracy and better patient outcomes. The Seminar visualised tremendous potential in technology revolutionising orthopaedic treatment.
Though Robotic surgery is yet to be proven through long term results and research, it has definitely proved handy in cup positioning in Hip Replacement Surgery and also in severe deformity knee replacements. An aatmanibhar robot could be the answer to reduce costs for patients in India without compromising on precision, that could be a game changer with the treatment becoming affordable to more patients in India. We are in talks with technocrats and start-ups to develop a robot prototype for ortho care, says Dr Mithin Aachi. At this Summit, we are focusing on new technologies that have come in orthopaedics especially robotics, cartilage replacements, platelet rich plasma and multiple other new options.
Prof SS Mohanty said, the Summit discussed about joint preservation surgeries, especially among the young patients. At least 15% to 20% patients are not satisfied with the conventional knee replacement surgery, therefore robotic assisted surgery is enabling joint alignment and stability and enhancing patient satisfaction levels and providing immediate relief from pain. In young patients, we opt for alternate procedures like platelet rich plasma, cartilage transplantation, realignment of the bone in the joint, to reduce trauma and preserve the joint for the next 15 to 20 years before the patient needs to go for joint replacement.
Dr Debashish Chandra said, we discussed at the Summit about how to preserve the joints and avoid the knee or hip replacement for patients under 50 years of age. Young patients in the age group of 20 to 40 years, who damaged their cartilage and had no option earlier, can benefit from cartilage transplant and implantation, cartilage fillers etc., Such patients have multiple options to lead a better life, which are equally successful with alignment correction surgeries.
The Seminar was of the opinion that a senior experienced surgeon gives equal and parallel results to Robot, but it is handy in patients with extremely bad deformities. The delegates felt that Making In India perhaps will be the best way to cut costs of Robot manufacture and procurement.
New single stage techniques for Cartilage lesions is another area which was deliberated and is fast proving in short term results to be very reliable to prevent osteoarthritis in future. However long-term results are very important before wd can generalise outcomes. Platelet
The experts felt Rich Plasma is a good and proven way to slow down many pathologies in the knee. However it was observed that the failures were due to deformity being severe, experts in joint pathology not being involved and proper indications not being followed. Osteotomies, minimal invasive fixations and angle corrections were the other new modalities in joint preservation, which were discussed at the Seminar.