more-in A 60-year-old woman underwent joint knee replacement surgery as an outpatient recently at Parvathy Hospital here. When Leela Shankar could no longer walk or bear the pain in her knees, she consulted Vetri Kumar, consultant orthopaedic surgeon at the hospital. It was found she had developed anteromedical osteoarthritis in her left knee. Doctors advised unicondlyar knee arthoplasty, (partial knee replacement) for complete cure. On evaluating the various parameters and criteria, she was found fit for outpatient surgery. “It is something that we in India are experimenting for the first time. It has been done abroad. In the U.S., since 2011 till now, 19,000 surgeries have been performed. The fear is about surgery and anxiety reduces the patient satisfaction rate,” Dr. Vetri Kumar claimed. Surgeons use risk assessment tools to assess if a person is fit for outpatient procedure. “According to us 56% of the patients we have operated on in Parvathi Hospital for similar problems would have actually required an OPD procedure,” he said. As for ensuring that the procedure is covered under insurance, Dr. Vetri said surgeons were in talks with the insurance companies. 3-finger breadth incision “Right now we admit patients for a day. This is a partial knee replacement in which the patient requires a three-finger breadth incision. For the patient there is a bunch of benefits, such as less bone loss and less injury.” S. Muthukumar, Chairman of the hospital said, “The outpatient orthopaedic surgery is a revolutionary step forward.”

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