Indian Surgeons Save Woman With Knee Dislocation And Vascular Injury, Help Her Regain Mobility. Know More

The patient's popliteal vessels, which provide several branches of blood supply to the structures of the knee and the rest of the lower extremity (hip, thigh, leg, ankle, and foot), were damaged. 

The orthopaedic team at CK Birla Hospital, Gurugram, led by Dr Debashish Chanda, a joint replacement surgeon, performed a nine-hour-long marathon surgery by collaborating with doctors from other departments. The surgery helped restore the patient's mobility.

Source : CK Birla Hospital Gurugram/Getty

A team of Indian doctors has saved the life of a 25-year-old woman from Mizoram who had knee dislocation and vascular injury due to a life-altering car accident. She is a widow, has two kids, and is the only breadwinner of her family. The injury resulting from the accident rendered her immobile. Her popliteal vessels, which provide several branches of blood supply to the structures of the knee and the rest of the lower extremity (hip, thigh, leg, ankle, and foot), were damaged. 

Since orthopaedic surgeons in Mizoram were reluctant to operate on her knee due to the complexity of the vascular injury and the lack of necessary support, she went to Delhi to obtain treatment.

Surgery That Saved The Woman

The orthopaedic team at CK Birla Hospital, Gurugram, led by Dr Debashish Chanda, a joint replacement surgeon, performed a nine-hour-long marathon surgery by collaborating with doctors from other departments. The surgery proved to be successful, and the patient was able to move her toes and ankle for the first time in several months. 

When she approached doctors at the hospital, she had been injured for two-and-a-half months.

She was surviving on anastomosis, which refers to a surgical connection between two body structures that are normally diverging or branching. Knee relocation had to be done carefully so that the anastomosis was not compromised.

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The doctors first decided to perform vascular repair. They made a 10-centimetre bypass graft and joined the upper part of her popliteal artery to the lower part of the leg artery. Dr Himanshu Verma, a vascular surgeon, performed this complex surgery. 

After this, the orthopaedic team relocated the knee. The surgeons reduced the width of the frontal part of the knee, and to compensate for this, used some wires and a back slab. 

They confirmed the functionality of the popliteal artery through doppler documentation, a non-invasive test used to measure the blood flow through blood vessels.

The day following the surgery, the patient was able to stand on her feet, and her circulation was optimal.