Dr. Robots begin knee surgeries in city

Precision, recovery time in operations conducted by the machines much better: doctors, patients

Medical machine: Nine patients were treated using advanced robotic technology at the Upasani Super Speciality Hospital in Mulund.

City doctors have carried out the first lot of robot-assisted knee replacement surgeries at the Upasani Super Speciality Hospital in Mulund. While the first surgery was carried out on February 3, the team of doctors has operated on nine patients so far using the highly advanced robotic technology.

Orthopedic surgeon Dr. Tejas Upasani, who operated on the patients, said the precision is much better in a robot-assisted surgery as compared to the traditional method.

“The traditional method might lead to knee swelling, excess bone and blood loss. The need today is surgeon-controlled yet not surgeon-dependent methods,” said Dr. Upasani, at the launch of the Robotic Assisted Joint Replacement Centre on Tuesday.

Experts say osteoarthritis is the most common reason patients require knee replacements. The condition occurs when there is a breakdown in the cushioning cartilage between joints such as the knee. While there is no cure for it, there are multiple treatment options to manage pain and potentially delay the progression of the disease.

Dr. Upasani said there are 15 million patients with osteoarthritis in India, but only 2% of these get operated. The number is expected to reach 60 million by 2025.

Of the nine patients who have been operated by Dr. Upasani, three were at the event. Sixty-five-year-old Kanchan Patil had been suffering from severe pain for the past five years. After her robot-assisted knee replacement carried out on February 7, she was able to walk without significant pain within four hours of surgery. Milan Shavadia (58) who was the first to undergo joint replacement with the robotic technology said the results of the surgery were much better. He could tell the difference because he had undergone a knee replacement traditionally earlier. “Earlier I took a month to start walking again. But after this surgery on my left knee, I was able to climb the stairs on the third day itself,” he said.

While the average cost of knee replacement ranges from ₹1.5 lakh to ₹2.3 lakh, Dr. Upasani said the robot-assisted method costs ₹15,000 to ₹20,000 more. He said robotic technology is commonly used in the West but some doctors have started doing it in India for the past seven months.