Forty-five-year-old D. Mallikarjun Reddy feared that he would be crippled for the rest of his life after a tractor crushed his left leg in a mishap near Tenali five years ago.
Thanks to a tough surgical procedure carried out to increase the length of the leg bone, the patient has fully recovered and can comfortably walk without any support now.
Ilizarov apparatus was used in surgical procedure to lengthen the bones by 19 cm to set right the leg , said spine and joint replacement surgeon at Sanghamitra Hospital N.V. Sivaramakrishna. Dr. Sivaramakrishna, whose painstaking effort for 2-1/2 years enabled Mr. Reddy to get back to work once again.
‘Record of sorts’“Limb bones have been lengthened by a maximum of 25 cm in the world, and it is a record of sorts for a hospital in the region,” he adds.
Mr. Reddy, who was working at a rice mill as an accountant when the accident happened, says, “Nowadays computers are used for accounts maintenance. I have to get used to the new accounting software packages by doing a crash course to find a suitable job.” It was because of his wife’s support he could overcome the toughest period in his life, he adds.
