“Orthopilot is the fourth generation navigation system that helps doctors eliminate human errors in hip and knee replacement and corrective surgeries,” says Dr Santosh Kumar, one of the finest Consultant Orthopaedic and Joint Replacement surgeons in the city with an experience of more than 17 years.
Dr Kumar is a postgraduate from JIPMER Puducherry who moved to the City Of Joy to bring world-class orthopaedic surgery to Kolkata.
Trained in joint replacement at Max Hospital -New Delhi and Delta Foundation – Australia, Phoenix -USA and Vienna – Austria, Dr Santosh Kumar has done more than 10000 knee replacement surgeries and over 2000 hip replacement surgeries till now. Currently, he has conducted more than 15 Total Hip Replacement surgeries in a single sitting successfully with 100% accuracy.
Dr Kumar received the ‘Certificate of International Excellence Award’ from ASCULAP ACADEMY, Germany for Minimally Invasive computer-assisted Joint Replacement Surgery where there is the least incision and blood loss to the patient. The computer navigated joint replacement surgery has been made popular by none other than Dr Santosh Kumar and he dreams to make Kolkata the Medical Tourism Hub so that the patients from all neighbouring countries with any orthopaedic issues need not go anywhere other than Kolkata.
The hip joint is the single most important and the biggest joint in the body. In our country, especially Eastern India, many young people are affected because of genetic arthritis-like Ankylosing Spondylitis, Avascular Necrosis and sometimes Tubercular Arthritis. These are the affections of the young people.
The older generations generally have Osteoarthritis or Fracture of the hip joint. In females, due to hormonal imbalance, mainly after menopause, bones become spongy and the density reduces leading to osteoporosis. Hence a minimum fall can lead to a crack or fracture in the joints. The fractures can be Intra Capsular Hip Joint Fracture where the crack or fracture is inside the hip joint or Extra Capsular Neck Femur Fracture which is outside the hip joint.
So any affection of the hip joint is extremely disabling and painful as it doesn’t even allow the person to sit on the chair or even stand. It affects daily activities like walking, sitting and sleeping also. Some cases of Extra Capsular Neck Femur fracture can be healed with a dynamic plate and screw if the fracture is undisplaced.
Dr Kumar uses Uncemented Prosthesis which helps the bone to integrate with the implant leading to a longer life span which is even more than 40-50 years. The uncemented implants are coated with Calcium Hydroxyiapatite for bone ingrowth.
A large head hip joint prosthesis is being used to enable a wider range of movement to enable the person to sit cross-legged too.
“We use highly crosslinked Poly for better life of the implants and also use dual mobility cups in selected situations. Hip Joint replacement is truly a life changing surgery. It restores painless and stable movement and reinstates limb length equality. The person who has been incapacitated because of hip pain, groin pain starts walking on the very next day of surgery and can also start running, driving, cycling, swimming after a month or so along with sitting cross-legged too,” explains Dr Santosh Kumar.
Since both sides Hip joint replacements in a single sitting is the expertise of Dr Santosh Kumar, the outlay for the entire process becomes extremely economical and affordable. As the Founder President of Poorva International Orthopedic Foundation, he also assists needy patients with any kind of orthopaedic treatment and surgery.