PUNE: In a first of its kind in India, the Deenanath Mangeshkar Hospital has successfully performed a reverse shoulder replacement surgery using French prosthesis on a seventy-three-year-old patient suffering from shoulder arthritis.

Interacting with the media here on Thursday,  joint replacement surgeon of the hospital, Dr Ashish Babhulkar, said that the reverse shoulder replacement surgery was performed on Suman Darekar, a resident of Urali Kanchan in May.

Post surgery, Suman has been responding positively with significant reduction in pain as well as flexible movement of her left hand.

He said the patient was suffering from shoulder arthritis for a long time and her life became miserable due to severe pain despite all the medication and treatment. The surgery was performed after the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) of India approved the French prosthesis technique.

Dr Babhulkar said that the surgery was performed in the presence of French Surgeon Geraud Chamille and a French technician in 90 minutes.

He said the technique of reverse shoulder replacement surgery is being successfully practised in the West and the US since the last 15 years.

Reasoning further, he said, “The technique was developed due to the fact that traditional surgical options for shoulder arthritis do not work well when patients also have a rotator tear. In a traditional shoulder replacement, the ball of the top of the arm bone is replaced with a metal ball. In patients, who have this total shoulder replacement and also have a torn rotator cuff, the socket of the implant is prone to loosening hence the reverse shoulder replacement technique is used.”

Patients, who are 60 and above and suffering from shoulder arthritis, will not have to depend on others for their daily basic chores post surgery, thus making them self-reliant.

Asked about the cost of the surgery, Dr Babhulkar said at present the surgery costs around Rs 1,60,000, but with increasing surgeries the cost will eventually go down in the long run.

THE PROCEDURE

The reverse shoulder replacement uses a ball-and-socket joint, but the ball is placed on the shoulder blade, and the socket is placed on top of the arm bone. This is the reverse of  normal anatomy, and thus it is known as reverse shoulder replacement.