But for the custom-made implant created by Mishra Dhatu Nigam Limited (MIDHANI) 23-year-old R.Naga Syamala would have had her left leg amputated. Bone cancer had attacked her right knee, eating up part of her femur that is above the joint and the tibia located below the joint. Nagarjuna Hospital doctors replaced the damaged bone with a “custom-made titanium prosthesis bio-medical implant” to save her leg. Fortunately the cancer had not spread to other tissues.
Syamala went to Nagarjuna Hospital with pain in her left knee. Doctors of the hospital found fluid in the cavity of her knee joint. On conducting more investigations it was found that she had bone cancer.
In such cases the leg is amputated but the hospital surgical oncologist Kaushik Hari and ortho surgeon Ch. Ramakrishna found a way to save the limb. They contacted the bio-medical implants division of the Defence Department Mini Ratna MIDHANI and asked for a custom-made prosthesis.
“We carefully calibrated Ms. Syamala’s bones and sent it to MIDHANI and they sent us an artificial knee joint in two weeks. We had to be very precise because a prosthesis of the wrong size will give the patient a limp. We had to plan two weeks in advance,” Dr Hari explained.
Only MIDHANI creates custom-made prosthesis in the country, he said.
Other firms made modular implants that were of different sizes. It would have proved very expansive to use a modular implant in Ms Syamala’s case. Cost was an important factor because she was treated under Arogyasri Scheme. The additional costs were borne by the hospital. With three months physiotherapy and exercises Ms Syamala will be able to use her leg normally for the rest of her life, Dr. Ramakrishna said.
