CHITRA WALKS AFTER 20 YEARS

"Chitra walks after 20 years",

Surgery Performed by Dr. Shishir Kumar, Sr. Consultant-Orthopaedics, Metro RLKC Hospital & Heart Institute 

27 years old Chitra from Nepal, suffering from Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis, a debilitating childhood illness affecting all joints of body, was in very poor health, unable to walk and had severe joints deformities. His deformities kept on increasing, and he was never able to walk after 9 years of age. The case of Chitra has been referred from a NGO run by Dr. Anil Parajuli. Dr. Shishir Kumar planned Chitra to get him operated. 

When Chitra came to India and met, I was scared to see him, he was curved up like a ball, with no movements at either the hip or knee, the spine was totally curved and he was unable to sit without support. I have never seen such a challenging case in my twenty years of surgical experience, said Dr. Shishir Kumar (Sr. Consultant-Ortho). Apart from challenging ortho deformities, operating him carried a risk as he was barely 35 kg weight, severely malnourished and all his muscles very weak because they were not used for the past 20 years. 

The surgery was performed in three stages, first both hips then both knees and then spine. And now chitra can walk and he require extensive physiotherapy to train his muscles which have not been used for 20 years, there is a good chance that he may be able to finally walk using a crutch or crane. 

Chitra deserve a special mention as it gives hope to millions of deformed patients who are not able to access advanced surgical techniques. 

Dr. Shishir says, all over the world two separate teams of doctors are used for such extensive deformities. One team performs the joint replacement and other team perform the spinal straightening operation. However this is the First time in the world where a single surgeon has performed all four joints replacements and also the Spinal Osteotomy.