Mumbai surgeon performs knee replacement surgery using iPod Touch (Money Control)
Orthopedic Surgery With iPod Touch (Technology Review India)
In cooperation with orthopedic implant company Smith & Nephew, Arun Mullaji of Breach Candy Hospital in Mumbai, Maharashtra, has performed the first commercial non-experimental orthopedic (knee replacement) surgery in Asia with the aid of an iPod Touch. Mullaji is a specialist in computer-aided knee replacement surgery. DASH is a new technology from orthopaedic implant company Smith & Nephew that aids the surgeon to perform knee replacement procedures with greater accuracy and precision, where clinical studies have shown that the implant is expected to last longer and function better. It has been designed to be easy for the surgeon to use, reduce the length of the operation, and be more affordable. DASH is a minimally non-invasive treatment with high accuracy levels and precision. The instructions are loaded on the iPod itself for the surgeon to understand, implement and master the technique.
The DASH Smart Instrument system enables the iPod Touch to connect wirelessly (by Wi-Fi) to a camera that emits an infrared beam. The iPod Touch, in turn, is attached to miniature instruments. The surgeon positions these instruments by reading the data on the iPod’s high-resolution screen, to accurately cut the bone to place the new joint. The surgeon can thus determine the exact alignment of the leg and the new joint on the screen of the iPod. Gulab Singhvi, 75, a resident of Prabhadevi, Mumbai, is the first patient to have opted for the pioneering technique for her knee replacement surgery. Singhvi was able to walk by 3 PM the same day she was operated. “Proper alignment, balance and exact placements of the components are important in replacement surgeries. Over the next 25-30 years we estimate a 600 percent increase in the number of revision surgeries because of mal alignment and instability. DASH promises to increase the success rate of the primary surgery leaving no room for revision surgeries. Long-term success and speedy recovery are the USPs of the DASH technology,” says Mullaji, a leading joint replacement surgeon attached to Breach Candy Hospital and Lilavati Hospital in Mumbai. He further states that with DASH the patients get a good range of movement, do not require physiotherapy, and can hope for a speedy recovery with less loss of blood and less operation theater time – all of which could bring the cost of treatment down. By partnering with Mullaji to establish a world-class training and education center here in Mumbai, Smith-Nephew also hopes to make the technology more broadly available to surgeons throughout the world so that its benefits can be realized by a larger number of patients. Tim Frandsen, director Global Surgical Navigation of Smith-Nephew says, “In the beginning Smith-Nephew hopes to let hospitals use this device to prove real time usability.” The DASH technology has gained approval from the CE, the European medical authorizing body. The technology will be made available in 35 hospitals globally -10 hospitals in UK, 10 in the U.S. and five in India will be equipped with the setup this year.