Medanta performs 2 cement-less total knee replacement surgeries

Doctors at Medanta - The Medicity successfully performed twin cement-less total knee replacement (TKR) surgeries on a 63-year-old woman and a 52-year-old man from Afghanistan, with the help of Titanium Nitride (TiNi) implant, the hospital said in a statement on Thursday.

Titanium nitride (TiN) also known as tinite, is an extremely hard ceramic material, often used as a coating on titanium alloys, steel, carbide and aluminium components to improve the substrate's surface properties.

"The TiNi implant provides an advantage of cement-less fixation, a coating with layers of porocoat titanium nitride ceramic, which is a structural material complementing that of a human bone," said S.K.S. Marya, Chairman, Institute of Bone & Joint, Medanta.

"With the passage of time, the human bone grows into this surface. It also provides a mobile bearing surface which gives additional movement to the knee and reduces the rate at which the joints start wearing out. Hence, this particular implant is able to deliver a functional advantage along with an added advantage of increased longevity," Marya who led both the surgeries at Medanta Hospital said.

Doctors performed the unilateral TKR surgery, first on 63-year-old Ishrat Umar, who was hypersensitive to metals and allergic to standard implants.

Based on the postoperative outcomes, a similar bilateral (both knees) TKR surgery was performed on a 52-year-old Mohd Qasim Alfaqir who was unable to perform maximum movement of knees for his religious rituals and daily routines.

Both the patients are now able to walk and carry on with their daily routine with ease, Marya said.

The major advantage of cement-less surgery is that the revision of joints which happens nearly after 20-25 years, can be done smoothly as there is no actual bone loss.

--IANS

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