110-year-old undergoes hip replacement surgery at PGI

Chandigarh, January 14

For the first time in India, a team of doctors at the PGI have performed a hip replacement surgery on a 110-year-old woman.

The surgery was performed by a team comprising Prof Vijay G Goni, Dr Tanvir Samra, Dr Deepak, Dr Karan, Dr Pradeep and Dr Sumeet.

Professor Goni said the operation was performed on January 8. It would give a new lease of life to the elderly woman and enable her to stand on her feet and walk again.

The patient had a fall at home and sustained a fracture on the right hip bone. Such fractures in elderly patients are a challenge to manage as these patients are very fragile and have various age-related complications. Any delay and failure to treat the problems can be life threatening because of complications due to their being bedridden, said Professor Goni.

“The main aim of this surgery is to provide a painless mobile and stable hip joint and to mobilise such patients as soon as possible. The PGI team was successful in achieving this goal. She is the oldest patient to undergo partial hip replacement in India, probably in Asia, as per current information available online,” he said. The oldest person to undergo a partial hip replacement in the world is a 112-year-old patient from the UK as per the Guinness Book of World Records.

“However, not all patients are considered safe for this surgery and not all elderly patients should be restrained from surgery. These patients need an efficient backup team, including anaesthetist and intensivist, to handle them during anaesthesia and after surgery as they can deteriorate any time,” said Professor Goni.

Dr Tanvir Samra, a dynamic anaesthesia consultant, managed the case efficiently, he added. The patient was made to stand the very next day and she was walking comfortably now, said Professor Goni. The whole team is happy that it got a chance to make the elderly woman go back to her routine activities which she used to perform prior to the injury. — TNS