‘Youngest’ patient of North India undergoes knee surgery in Faridkot

Balwant Garg

Faridkot, September 2

Manpreet Kaur (23) is probably the youngest patient in North India who has undergone knee replacement surgery at Guru Gobind Singh Medical College and Hospital (GGSMCH) in Faridkot.

Mother of a year-old child and wife of an electrician in Ludhiana, Manpreet was suffering from rheumatoid arthritis of the knee, causing pain, inflammation, swelling and severely affecting her mobility for the past year.

Four days after her knee replacement surgery at GGSMCH, her smile has returned after over one year of excruciating pain.

Dr Anshul Dahuja, orthopaedician at GGSMCH who operated on Manpreet, said almost all patients undergoing knee replacement are above 60 years of age and Manpreet was quite young for this kind of treatment. Sometimes back when she first approached me, she was in severe pain and not able to walk due to right knee deformity, he said.

“After getting her clinically examined, I was quite surprised to find that her right knee was completely damaged,” said Dr Anshul.

Calling it a rare kind of surgery, Dr Shivinder Singh Gill, former head of department of orthopaedics at PGI Chandigarh, having over 40 years of experience, said a patient at this young age is operated upon when he/she is going through unbearable pain. The replaced knee lasts for 20-25 years and then the patient has to undergo another replacement surgery.

After going through medical records and journals from across the country, we have found that Manpreet is the youngest person to undergo knee replacement in North India and second youngest in the continent, said Dr Anshul.