Apollo Hospitals Performs total femur replacement on a child with osteosarcoma

Chennai 19^th May 2021: Apollo Hospitals Chennai successfully completed a Total Femur Replacement on a child from Bangladesh during the pandemic. 11-year-old patient who was bedridden for months with a severely wea kening condition has been able to walk for the first time after this complex surgery performed by doctors at Apollo Hospitals Chennai.

Speaking about the procedure, Dr. R Sankar, Senior consultant Pediatric Orthopedic Spine Surgeon said, “In normal circumstances, distal femur (thigh bone) Osteosarcoma is treated with removal of the tumour and repla cement of the removed portion with a prosthesis. When we did PET CT scan, we found another tumor focus in the top part of the same bone femoral. There was no other lesion anywhere else in the body. Hence, we decided to go for limb salvage. It was a challenge at this stage to obtain the right prosthesis. As the child is going to grow, we needed to get the right prosthesis which will be lengthened later according to his growth. Also, to make sure once the full femur is replaced, to get good soft tissue reconstruction to prevent the prosthesis dislocating from the hip joint. With adequate precaution, surgery was performed successfully at Apollo Children’s Hospitals.”