Elderly undergoes elbow replacement in city hospital

Suffering from rheumatoid arthritis for 40 years, Ravindra Gharat, 82, had resigned himself to a lifetime of pain. Almost a decade ago, the retired railway official underwent a knee replacement surgery, but the pain in his elbows was persistent.

"My condition worsened after I fell down in May 2017 during a holiday in Alibaug and injured my hand," Gharat said. It was then that he was told about the option to undergo an elbow replacement surgery.

"Knee replacements have become very common but not many are aware of elbow replacements," said Dr Vaibhav Kasodekar, orthopaedic surgeon at Global Hospital, Parel. "A person with severe arthritis and restricted mobility or someone who has multiple fractures is the ideal candidate for the surgery," he said.

Similar to a knee replacement surgery, an elbow replacement too involves replacing the joint with a prosthesis. The surgery costs close to Rs 2.5 lakh of which Rs 1.5 is the cost of the prosthesis.

Gharat, who underwent the surgery three days ago, will have his stitches removed in 14 days and then undergo close to a month and a half of physiotherapy.

"For the longest time, I was not aware of such a surgery since it is a relatively rare procedure but the surgery went well," Gharat said.

Dr Kasodekar said that lack of awareness about the procedure is an issue but it can provide relief to the elderly who are living in pain.