Chennai: Hospitals cut corners in replacement surgeries

Chennai, April 2016: A large number of patients who underwent replacement of hip or knee have not been able to have a quality life possibly because their surgeons cut corners to save money for the hospital or the hospital did not want to spend more, a gathering of surgeons said recently. In some cases, the hospitals just did not have the facility.

Many surgeons avoided available technologies to save money for the hospitals or because the hospitals did not have the facilities, thereby not yielding maximum results, concluded the national conference of Indian Society of Hip and Knee surgeons after studying the case sheets of more than one lakh patients before and after surgery between 2007 and 2016.

"Many surgeons did not use technology such as 3D printing and computer-navigated surgeries which can improve accuracy of surgery and recovery time because the hospital found it unaffordable. In some cases, the hospital charged high fees from patients, but did not deliver high-end treatment," said Senior Orthopaedic Surgeon Dr P Suryanarayanan, the Organising chairman of the society. This does not, however, mean that all the patients studied were offered a particular technology and denied.

The society said it formed a registry to track hip and knee replacement surgeries, post-surgery complications and quality of life for patients. At least 125 hospitals across the country will provide data for the registry which will help doctors understand implant behaviour and its effect on patients.

Dan Berry, Chairman of Mayo Clinic, US, said the registry would be a learning platform for surgeons to keep themselves abreast of their peers' work. "The registry will track and popularize modern implant designs that aren't being used extensively despite their many comforts," Barry said.

The society concluded that India has to follow the lead of countries like Australia, the UK, Sweden, Finland and the US in developing national joint replacement registries. ET Health World