Pune-based orthopedic surgeon developes artificial knee joint

Pune, Nov 13 (UNI) City-based noted orthopedic surgeon Dr K H Sancheti has claimed that he had received a patent from the Union Government for designing and developing a knee joint prosthesis.

With this, Dr Sancheti has become the first and only orthopedic surgeon in the country to design and develop the knee joint prosthesis for patients suffering from severe arthritis and undergo Total Knee Replacement (TKR) surgery.

Selected from 36,000 orthopedic surgeons in India, Dr Sancheti had developed the prosthesis under the Indus Knee Project. He can use the patent for the next 20 years.

Talking to mediapersons here today, Dr Sancheti said ''Our moto is to promote and provide pain-free life to the needy people, which has now come into reality.'' He said more than 80 per cent of the population in the country has severe form of arthritis and they cannot afford the imported knee replacement surgery. Keeping this in mind, he had designed indigenous knee suitable for Indian population in different sizes and in function.

It is the cost effective surgery. The price is relatively low than imported knee replacement surgery. The whole package would cost about Rs 60-65,000.

On the success of recovery of patient, Dr Sancheti said a patient takes three weeks for initial recovery but long term exercise is very important which allows him/her more than 130-135 degress of knee bending with stability.

The most important benefit of this is that the patient can sit on floor and also sit cross-legged and more than thousand patients have been operated succesfully so far. A software called 'Navigation software' is now also developed to take trial of knee replacement through computer, he added.

Dr Sancheti has developed a highly equipped workshop in-house to design other joints like hip, shoulder and elbow. This project has been approved by the Department of Science and Technology, Goverment of India.

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