Mangalore: Computer assisted knee surgery a success

TNN

Mangalore, 16 July 2011: A team of senior orthopaedic surgeons led by Christoph Saager from Switzerland successfully performed a total knee-replacement prosthesis through computer navigated total knee replacement technique (CNTKR) at the AJ Hospital here on Thursday.

 

 

Total knee-replacement prosthesis was performed on Vasanthi Shetty (62), a housewife, who was suffering from osteoarthritis from the past five years.

 

AJ Hospital and Research Centre Arthroscopic and joint- replacement specialty department head Dr Sudarshan Bhandary said osteoarthritis is the commonest form of arthritis, which severely affects the knee joint most often and needs joint replacements as a permanent solution. Knee replacement is a procedure in which the surgeon removes the damaged or diseased parts of the patient’s knee joint and replaces them with an implant. In order to allow surgeons to operate with smaller incisions and greater precision, CNTKR technique is now a preferred mode of performing the joint replacement surgeries, he said.

 

Dr Christoph Saager, an expert in CNTKR in Switzerland, said, the technique has given excellent results and also enhances the life span of the implant. The computer navigation system aligns the patient’s bones and joint implants with a degree of accuracy not possible with the naked eye, he highlighted.