Avoiding Knee Replacements in Indians through Arthroscopic surgery-www.kneeindia.com

An American citizen of Indian origin underwent successful arthroscopic knee cartilage surgery in by Chennai’s Knee surgeon, www.kneeindia.com for a rare condition. She was diagnosed to have “Osteochodndritis Dissecans” of the weight bearing portion of the medial femoral condyle of the femur (thigh bone). After 9 months of follow up, she is completely pain free.
This arthroscopic procedure is least invasive and avoids the morbidity from a total Knee replacement if performed early in the course of the disease.

SR, an American citizen sought arthroscopic surgery of the knee from Dr.A.K.Venkatachalam, Knee surgeon in February 05. She had developed knee pain for which she sought a consultation with her American Orthopedic surgeon. He took MR scans and diagnosed it as Avascular necrosis. She was not known to be on steroids and was in general good health. Conservative treatment didn’t work.
Perturbed by the lack of improvement, she sought advice from Dr.Venkatachalam through mutual friends.
She flew down to Chennai in July last year and underwent a repeat MR scan. This was reported as Osteochondritis Dissecans of the posterior portion of her medial femoral condyle, which is rarely reported in the Orthopedic literature.
After consultation with a senior Orthopedic surgeon in Belgium, she was told that she needed Arthroscopic surgery to repair damaged cartilage. She was cautioned that after the first surgery, she might require another one to regenerate cartilage cells through an Autogenous cartilage transplant.
She was first subjected to an innovative arthroscopic procedure, “Microfracture” which enjoys a huge success in the hands of the pioneer surgeon from the US, Dr.Richard Steadman. In India, the same had been used by the surgeon for pre arthritis lesions in middle aged patients but this was the first time that it was used for "Osteochondritis Dissecans".
After orthopedic surgery in Chennai,she returned to the US very soon and participated in the rehabilitation package of non weight bearing and exercises
This resulted in abolition of her chronic pain.
Says S, “I am doing really great now. I had a lot of pain after I got off the crutches. I started to work out at the gym. Since then and also with all the walking in New York/D.C. the pain has reduced a lot. I am able to walk normally and climb the stairs without any problem. My friends here in Omaha can see the difference. My knee does get tired once in a while when I move around a lot, but that happens rarely. I have been taking my medication regularly. Thanks again for all your help and fixing of my knee. My mobility is much better now than it used to be before the procedure. I will keep you posted regularly.”

Describing the procedure as the least invasive, the surgeon stresses that it is not only the operation but the rehabilitation package that goes along which is also important. The patient needs to understand this and wholeheartedly participate in the rehab programme.
Other procedures like Mosaicplasty cause damage to the unaffected portions of the knee whereas in Microfracture, remote damage is not produced. The orthopedic surgeon uses bone picks and the abrader of the shaver to create tiny holes in the bone. Blood oozes out and organizes into a super clot. This spurs the formation of new reparative cartilage in the hitherto cartilage denuded areas. This is akin to fracture healing where bone forms after a fracture.
Not only the American citizen but many more have benefited from the procedure as published in “The Hindu” leading English Newspaper in February 2005. This procedure is ideal for young patients with localized cartilage damage and not for elderly patients who would need a replacement