In a rarest instance, doctors at AASRA Hospitals have set a record for conducting world’s first Robotic Total Hip Replacement for a polio patient with history of an unsuccessful GirdleStone Arthroplasty, AASRA hospital claimed .

The surgery was conducted to enable a polio patient to walk after two years of wheelchair confinement. In addition to this with such precision surgery, the patient will be able to walk within a day after the surgery and will return to normal lifestyle within next four to six weeks, the hospital said

Mr N, a 48 year old polio patient, had difficulty living a normal life after he suffered a fracture a few years ago. He underwent GirdleStone Arthroplasty two years ago at a major orthopedic hospital but ended up being unable to move or walk post the surgery.

The patient had presented two challenges for the surgeons. Firstly the polio affected limb is short; it was further shortened due to unsuccessful GirdleStone Arthroplasty.

The second problem was the weak prostotic bones on the right side due to polio and confinement of the patient to the wheelchair for a two year long period.

The hospital informed that a Robotic Total Hip Replacement surgery was done and a specially modified implant was placed in the hip joint.

This special implant comes with a metal liner and offers dual mobility. In cases of polio affected patients the muscles around the joint is wasted in addition to the underdeveloped bones leading to frequent dislocation of the hip joint which works like a ball and socket model.

“The special implant used by AASRA Hospitals addressed this problem by using an additional metal liner in the implant. In addition to this the joint has been given a dynamic stabilization by using an additional ball in the femoral end (thigh bone) of the hip joint giving an advantage of dual motion to the joint. With this the chances of patient suffering dislocation post the surgery has been brought down to near ZERO,” the hospital said.

It further pointed out that the surgery was conducted by using MAKO Smart Robotics platform – one of the most advanced robotic surgery equipment available. AASRA has the unique distinction of having brought the MAKO robot for the first time to Karnataka. The team of surgeons at AASRA Hospitals was able to achieve perfection despite the problem of long-standing polio affected limb.

Dr. Jagadish Hiremath, Chairman of AASRA Hospitals said, “The complication in this case was that the patient suffered a fracture in the polio limb. The patient had undergone a GirdleStone Arthroplasty to the same limb instead of a total hip replacement which complicated the case by shortening the limb further and confining the patient to a wheelchair.”

“Finding AASRA Hospitals equipped with advanced surgical robotics and knowing about AASRA Hospitals as a centre of excellence in joint replacement, the patient approached us for help. We are happy that we have been able to achieve what he asked us to do,” Dr Hiremath said.

He claimed that there has been no documented evidence in any medical literature across the world of a robotic total robotic hip replacement surgery conducted in a case with this kind of complications.

“With conventional surgery surgeons have to work based on the gut feeling and skill during the surgery. With robotic surgery we could plan everything in detail from how much to cut to how much to insert the implant and where to stop etc… Hence we were able to achieve a perfect alignment of the implant. The limb shortening has been removed and restored to the original length of his polio limb. With a little physiotherapy the patient will be able to walk shortly” Dr Hiremath added.