Sixteen-year-old Uzbek national Komronkhon Khujakhonov was a little boy when he was diagnosed with a dangerous tumour in his right thigh bone, and needed immediate surgical intervention to save his life and leg. However, despite a major limb salvage procedure in Russia four years back, he was neither able to walk nor control his leg.
Doctors at Indraprastha Apollo Hospital have now successfully performed a crucial surgery, restoring the boy’s leg function and giving him hope of a normal life.
Dr. Rajeev K. Sharma, senior consultant, Orthopaedics and Joint Replacement Surgery at the Hospital said: “Four years back, the boy was found to have Osteo-sarcoma of distal right femur, implying his right thigh bone had tumour that could have grown rapidly and endangered his life. The distal femur comprises the top part of the knee joint and the tumour meant that the knee was also affected. The boy underwent a tumour excision and limb salvage with Total Knee tumour prosthesis. The surgeons removed the entire tumour-affected bone and knee joint and replaced it with an artificial implant.’’
Doctors at Apollo maintained that while the tumour was cured, the implant was unsuccessful. Dr. Sharma added that a joint replacement procedure is difficult and challenging and requires a lot of precision.
“The boy needed a revision joint replacement, which is more difficult and complex. Firstly, the muscles, tissues and ligaments connecting the joints become weak after a surgery as it involves cutting and stitching of joint sections. If a joint replacement fails, the muscles and ligaments do not get the right time and care to recover from the trauma.’’
However, a revision surgery was successfully conducted on Khujakhonov’s right thigh and knee to remove the earlier implant and replace with a new one.
