A 102-year-old man with a fractured hip underwent an hour-long hip replacement surgery at Fortis Hospital.
Kanailal Malakar, the centenarian who lives in West Midnapore, had recently fractured his hip while returning from his farm. His family rushed him to the West Midnapore outreach OPD of Fortis Hospital after local doctors and hospitals refused to treat him owing to his advanced age and health complications.
Against the odds, a team led by orthopaedic surgeon Anindansu Basu at Fortis Hospital decided to replace Malakar’s hip as any other course of treatment would not have healed the fracture. On May 18, the surgery was completed within an hour as the patient’s hypertension and heart and lung ailments had made it impossible to keep him on anaesthesia for more than 60 minutes.
“Treating geriatric patients is always difficult as multiple complications could arise. It was a complex case that required a cemented long-stem surgery to fix the hip bones,” said Basu.
Ronen Roy, director of the orthopaedics department at Fortis Hospital, lauded the doctors for their efforts. “The case was challenging because of the patient’s age and comorbidities. A very precise approach was adopted for the surgery. Our orthopaedic team has once again excelled."