Dr Narendra Vaidya, Lokmanya Hospital, Pune, introduces X-press TKR technique to treat osteoarthritis

The technique has yield rewarding results in the past few hundred surgeries

Today, osteoarthritis has witnessed a phenomenal rise, which is more common in elderly ladies, between the age group of 65 to 70 years. Sometimes, the younger generation suffers from rheumatoid arthritis, when Total Knee Replacement (TKR) is needed.

TKR has been a successful and rewarding procedure for years. There are inherent issues in classical TKR surgery. The classical TKR surgery leads to extensive loss of soft tissues and bone fragments, losing of ligaments, inserting rods in the femur (thigh bone) all to maintain the angles of the skeletal structure of the limb.

TKR leads to prolonged rehab period and is one of the biggest obstacle at an old age, patients tend to have other morbidities like DM, HTN, cardiac problems, renal issues etc. To counter this, Dr Narendra Vaidya from Lokmanya Hospital, Pune, introduced X-press TKR technique, which benefits patients.

In X-press TKR technique, the posterior cruciate ligament along with the peripheral bone in the femur is not excised and various tissues and bone structures are preserved, resulting in faster mobilisation and less morbidity or disability of the limb. Secondly, ortho align instrument is used, which is a kind of navigation device and works on principles of accelerometer and gyroscope. It helps to guide in precision of deformity/ defects where rods are not inserted into the bones.

Thus TKR is not a replacement surgery but actually resurfacing procedure, where a cushion is inserted, which has a poly component inside and the patella is preserved. This technique has yield rewarding results in the past few hundred surgeries, which Dr Vaidya has performed, with excellent reduced rehab time.

In fact a patient can walk the same day and both the limbs can be operated on the same day. On second and third day, the patient can climb the stairs. This is because the ligaments and a lot of bone tissues can be preserved, thus leading to longitivity and lifetime of the implant.