Wockhardt Hospitals helps Chandrakant Kothere walk tall again

Chandrakanth Kothere with Dr Sachin Bhonsle

Mrs Shobha Kothere and Chandrakanth Kothere

After years of bowing down to fate, Wockhardt Hospitals helped Chandrakant Kothere walk tall again .Proving its medical one-upmanship yet again Wockhardt Hospitals performed a complicated bone deformity correction with limb lengthening surgery on 42 year old Chandrakant Kothere who was living a crippled live after a traumatic accident three years back. The Orthopedic team at Wockhardt Hospitals,Mumbai led by Dr. Sachin Bhonsle has finally made Chandrakant’s dream come true relieving him of his three year long trauma and help him walk again.

Chandrakant Kothere was 39 years old when he suffered multiple compound fractures on his right tibia, extensive soft tissue damage and skin loss following a road accident. He was advised immediate amputation of his leg in a city hospital where he had undergone initial treatment. Since he was determined not to compromise his life at such an young age, this Hindustan Petroleum employee chose to get the fractures of the leg stabilized.

The doctors in the city hospital went ahead to treat him with stabilization of the bones and subsequent plastic surgery procedures to provide a skin cover. But in a few months following the treatment, the condition worsened as the site of infection on the leg had not healed. The fracture on the leg remained un-united. Unable to bear his body weight, the broken leg bowed in disproportion and he became shortened by almost three inches on one side. The writhing pain was only worsening with time, it was almost impossible for him to walk without a pronounced limp. Having exhausted other avenues, the patient visited Wockhardt Hospital for a consultation in January this year.

According to Dr. Sachin Bhonsle, Consultant Joint Replacement and Orthopaedic Surgeon Wockhardt Hospitals, who treated Chandrakant said “Since the earlier surgery had failed the chances of failure of corrective procedures, was increased by 20 percent. So, ascertaining the nature of injuries and the inherent risk factors that would be involved in the treatment, we were confronted with three challenges

• The three year old fractures had to be healed,
• The leg had to be straightened out, and
• The leg length had to be matched to prevent the patient from limping.

All this had to be done without disturbing the microvascular skin graft in position. “And if, by chance, the corrective surgeries also failed then amputation would have been the last option. It actually took us some time to think over the treatment plan and make up our mind to go ahead,” recalls Dr. Bhonsle.

The surgery was performed in two stages. The first stage was to clear all the infected and un-united bone at fracture site; align the leg and fix the bone fragments using a ring shaped Ilizarov External Fixator. A further cut was made in the top bone fragment so that the middle bone segment could be moved to take up the left over defect to correct the leg length.

In three months following the first surgery, the middle bone segment was moved downwards -- 1mm a day to achieve complete continuity. At this stage the second surgery was performed to slip a special titanium plate from under the skin to fix all three bone fragments together to achieve a solid union. Bone grafting was done at this stage. It took further two months for these bones to heal fully and the patient finally got a straight leg with normal leg length.

“Last three years has been quite painful as I had to lead a crippled life and was under huge trauma and fear of amputation of my affected limb. Due to my condition I was unable to resume work and it became a huge liability on my family. For a last opinion I decided to visit Wockhardt Hospitals where I consulted Dr. Sachin Bhonsle and that’s when I had a ray of hope to stand back on my feet. My utmost gratitude to Dr. Bhonsle and the team at Wockhardt Hospitals for whom I am able to stand in front of you all and have a motivation to lead a healthy life ahead”, said Mr. Chandrakant Kothere.

About Wockhardt Hospitals Bone & Joint Centre:

The Wockhardt Bone and Joint Care is equipped to treat all types of musculo-skeletal problems ranging from Trauma Surgery to Minimally Invasive Arthroscopy Surgery. The hospital also specilalises in surgery for joint replacements, sports medicine, ligament repair, knee surgery, spine surgery and physical therapy for rehabilitation. Procedures performed at Wockhardt Hospitals Bone & Joint Centres are

• Arthroscopic surgery: Key hole surgery for disorders of knee and shoulder
• Minimal Access Spine surgery
• Hip Resurfacing
• Paediatric Bone & Joint Surgeries
• Fracture Treatment
• Sports Medicine
• Speciality Clinic for Arthritis
• Trauma & Pain Management
• Osteoporosis
• Lifestyle Modification Programme (Rehabilitation)
• Patient Education Programme
• Total Knee Replacement
• Unicondylar Knee Replacement
• Total Hip Replacement
• Hip Resurfacing / Surface Replacement Arthroplasty
• Shoulder Replacement
• Neck & Elbow Replacement