Arthritis Treatment and Cure

Saturday, Aug 14, 2010 - An orthopedic surgeonhere has successfully performed what is claimed to be India's first ever Reverse Shoulder Replacement (RSP) operation which could offer relief to patients suffering from shoulder arthritis.

The RSP is a newly approved implant that has been used successfully in Europe and America. It is designed specifically for use in shoulders that have arthritis, a deficient rotator cuff or complex fractures.

A 73-year-old woman, suffering from severe pain due to shoulder arthritis restricting her movements, underwent the RSP at Deenanath Mangeshkar hospital here recently with a satisfactory post-operative results, according to Dr Ashish Babhulkar, the surgeon who performed the operation.

At a media interaction in the hospital on Thursday, where the patient was presented, Dr Babhulkar said "we used French prosthesis for the replacement which is recently approved by FDA and the surgery was performed free of cost under the guidance of a team of French surgeons who are leaders in the field of RSP."

The woman --- Suman Darekar-said that after years of agonising pain in the shoulder, she was now able to move her arm freely and even " comb hair", lifting it up and backward.

Dr Babhulkar said the patient who hails from Pune, had been suffering from shoulder arthritis for a long time.

"She was miserable when she came to the hospital as no medication or treatment could relieve the severe pain, restricting her shoulder movement.".

He said one more woman, aged 66--- Uma Mishra hailing from Bilaspur---was subsequently operated by him in the absence of the French surgeons and both the patients were doing "fine" with restoration of normal movement of the arm and shoulder.

Explaining the new technique, Dr Babhulkar said the RSP is specially designed for a problem called "rotator cuff tear occurring in patients with shoulder arthritis" where the traditional surgical options "do not work".

In a traditional shoulder replacement, the ball on top of the arm bone is replaced with a metal ball and the socket of the shoulder blade with a plastic socket."

"In RSP, a ball-and-socket joint is used but the ball is placed on the shoulder blade and the socket is placed on top of the arm bone in a reverse of the normal anatomy," he said.



source; www.dnaindia.com