In a first in Kerala, hospital performs rare 3D ankle surgery

PTI, Apr 18, 2023, 10:31 AM IST

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A private hospital here in association with the Indian Foot and Ankle Society (IFAS) has performed a live surgical workshop on Osteochondral lesion of the ankle joint with Episealer Implant imported from Episurf in Sweden. This is the first time such a surgery was performed in Kerala, the hospital claimed.

The rare feet surgical procedure was conducted on Saturday by noted surgeon Dr Rajesh Simon, a senior consultant and foot and ankle surgeon at the VPS Lakeshore Hospital along with professor Niek van Dijk, the former head of the Orthopedic Department of the Amsterdam University Hospital. The hospital said that Prof. Dijk, led the surgical procedure on a 28-year-old native of Kochi, pursuing PhD in IIT, Goa.

The patient is a young man hailing from Kochi who had an accident a few months back. ”His ankle was seriously injured. This was the Osteochondral Lesion of Talus. That is the cartilage injury to the ankle joint. If it is a small injury, we can do it as a Keyhole surgery. But this was a 1.5-centimetre-deep injury and talus had damages,” the hospital said in a release.

It said the doctors opted for the open surgery using the latest technology which is the most advanced option available today to cure this particular injury. ”The surgery was done using a virtually created 3D model of the damaged talus. This 3D model helped identify the and define the lesion,” it said. The surgery went on well and the patient is recovering fast,” the release added.

The Episealer is made of cobalt-chrome alloy, the hospital said adding that the part of the Episealer that is countersunk in the bone and cartilage is covered with a titanium undercoating and a hydroxyapatite outer coating, ensuring a quick and lasting fixation to the bone. OLT is a medical condition during which patients develop deep ankle pain during or after weight-bearing activities after six month or one year of the incident. Physical examination and imaging are paramount in the diagnosis of OLT.