Total shoulder replacement surgery performed in city

Nagpur: Dr Ashish Singh Thakur, an orthopaedic surgeon from city, claims to have performed the first Total Shoulder Replacement (TSR) in city and Central India on a 69-year-old woman. The patient, Shyamala Dahihandekar, had suffered a shoulder injury 19 years back.
Dr Thakur told reporters that he took a special training in the surgery from Dr JK Park in South Korea. In fact, TSR surgery is being performed only in few cities of the country from the past 4-5 years.“It is not just the first TSR of city and Central India but also the first using the reverse shoulder arthroplasty technique, an advanced version of the conventional TSR. Compared to other conventional shoulder replacement surgeries, this kind of surgery improves the movement by 20%,” he said.
After the accident and subsequent treatment, the patient’s shoulder had malunited into an angulated and deformed bone which had gradually caused degeneration of the joint. Her arm movement had become extremely restricted but she managed with it for so many years since it was the left arm. But in last few years, especially past few months, she suffered from unbearable pain even while resting. She then approached Dr Thakur who after weighing the pros and cons of the TSR, decided in favour of the surgery. The patient was also suffering from post trauma arthritis.
Explaining the special technique used in TSR, Dr Thakur said that in this procedure the ball and the cup (socket) of the joint in the form of an artificial implant are placed in reverse position. “It may sound funny but this has unique mechanical advantages. This ensures better range of movement of the shoulder joint. There was a risk of tearing of the bone or the defunct muscles. But with expertise gained through special training, I could not just replace the entire shoulder joint but also use an advanced form of the surgical procedure,” he said.
Dr Sajal Mitra, professor and head of the orthopaedics department at Government Medical College and Hospital (GMCH) appreciated Dr Thakur’s effort. “This surgery is not done routinely as the indications for this kind of joint replacement are very few. But the technique has already given good results in metros and hence could take off fast,” he said.