Orthopaedic surgeries performed with iPod touch in Apollo Hospitals

The apple-a-day-keeps-the-doctor-away argument is quite specious these days. When it's an Apple product that's guiding the surgeon's scalpel, it is time to change the proverb.

Surgeons at Apollo Hospital, Chennai, inked a record of sorts when they performed a hip replacement surgery on a patient using an iPod touch. When Vijay C. Bose, senior consultant orthopaedic surgeon, Apollo Specialty Hospital, decided to perform a Birmingham Hip Resurfacing procedure on Guy Williams, a basketball coach from the United States, he decided to use an iPod Touch, armed with a special navigation application to help him along.

“Basically this is a computer-navigated surgery. Earlier, we used to have a huge console/monitor mounted on the wall which we had to look at to guide the surgery. Now, it's just smaller, hand-held,” Dr. Bose explained. The distance of the console from the surgery table endowed the process with some cumbersomeness.

The advantage with this device is that it is directly in the hands of the surgeon and directly over the wound. “It has the miniaturisation advantage and it offers more precise location guidance,” Dr. Bose added.

Similar to GPS device

It is similar to a GPS device, the surgeon inputs the co-ordinates specific for every patient and the software then indicates the exact location on the bone. “I'd say it is about 98 per cent precise. And for the surgeon, it sits comfortably in the palm of his hand.

The other advantages are that it is easy to install the software on any iPod Touch; an external holder, developed specifically for the purpose, corsets the device and it is ready to use.

It can also communicate the information, via Bluetooth, to any other Apple device in the room, or within a reasonable perimeter.

The biggest advantage for the patient is that it is nearly Rs.15,000 cheaper than it would cost a normal computer-navigated hip replacement surgery, Dr. Bose informed.

The iPod Touch also came to the rescue when Niranjana Shah, a housewife from Chennai had to undergo a knee replacement surgery.

“While Mr. Williams is the first ever to have a hip replacement with this device, Mrs. Shah is the third in the world to have had the procedure using such guided navigation,” Dr. Bose added.

The software was developed in Memphis, U.S. and inputs were provided by Apollo Hospital and Breach Candy Hospital, Mumbai.

The latter has already performed an iPod Touch navigated knee replacement surgery.