Doctors at Fortis Malar perform Chennai’s First futuristic Orthopaedic procedure to make 72-year-old walk

• All Autologous Cartilage transplant surgery used to treat articular cartilage defects of the knee of the patient

Doctors at Fortis Malar Hospital performed futuristic orthopaedic keyhole procedure –All Autologous Cartilage Transplant (AACT) – to treat articular cartilage defects of the knee of a 72-year-old woman recently. This is the first time that this procedure has been performed successfully in Chennai to transplant the cartilage. The team of doctors was led by Dr Nand Kumar Sundaram, Senior Consultant, Trauma & Orthopaedic Surgeon, Fortis Malar Hospital.  

The septuagenarian patient was admitted after she had an accidental fall while climbing a staircase. She had complaints of difficulty in walking. After the patient was clinically examined, a condition called Osteochondritis dissecans was diagnosed. It is a condition where the cartilage and underlying bone structure of joints are damaged.This leads to disability in carrying out day to day activities.

An AACT procedure was recommended and later performed successfully to treat articular cartilage lesions. The new technique transplants healthy cartilage tissue through a keyhole along with the use of bioactive material to treat articular cartilage lesions, thereby reducing recovery time. This maiden technique is better than traditional Autologous Chondrocyte Implantation (ACI) with minimum complications and swift recovery to do normal activities. The patient was able to stand on her feet & walk after a day after the successful procedure.

Commenting on the procedure, Dr. Nand Kumar Sundaram said “The advantage of All Autologous Cartilage Transplant (AACT) over other treatments for chondral repair is that they can be applied in a single surgical procedure and it avoids the cumbersome process of cell culture or a separate scaffolding of joints.The entire procedure is autologous, which means there is no usage of chemical agents during the entire treatment therefore making it a completely safe procedure for all patients.TheAll Autologous Cartilage Transplant procedure can be aneffective alternative to standard autologous chondrocyte implantation.”

AACT is a procedure where the surgeon will harvest a small piece of healthy articular cartilage from the patient’s knee, combine with Platelet Rich Plasma and apply it on the lesion site with the helpof an autologous sealant (fibrin). AACT is a safe, single sitting and cost-effective procedure in treating cartilage lesions.