Doc Performs TKR in 10 Minutes Flat

In a hurry to get a knee joint replaced? You will soon be able to get one in ten minutes at the RAK Hospital in Dubai, performed by Vikram Shah, M.D. of Shalby Hospitals in India. Shah, who performs the “‘zero technique ten-minute total knee replacement (TKR) surgery, ” has agreed to do the same in a partnership with RAK Hospital in Dubai, beginning in six weeks.

Shah explained his process to writer Suchitra Bajpai Chaudhary of Gulf News. “Normally, surgeons take approximately two hours to conduct a TKR surgery, ” he said. “The usual incision is about seven inches, but my cut is smaller, about 4 inches. When I cut less, there is less bleeding, less pain, and no requirement for blood transfusion, all of which accelerate recovery. I do the surgery under spinal anesthesia which makes recovery quicker.”

“I eliminate all occasions of delay that surgeons usually have. Surgeons tend to hold several trials of the joint which takes up at least 15 minutes of extra time. When I make the incision, I complete the soft tissue balancing immediately and after placing the knee only require one trial. My patients begin walking in two hours and climbing steps in seven hours and are discharged from hospital in three days.”

Shah’s technique, he adds, involves prior planning, implant selection, and patient counseling. He has developed an orthopedic surgeon’s needle that can easily pass through both bone and soft tissue, reducing surgery and recovery time.

Shah’s success rate, according to Chaudhary, has been high. He has performed 50, 000 TKR surgeries so far and he presently averages seven surgeries a day.

Raza Seddiqi, M.D., Executive Director of RAK Hospitals and CEO of Arabian Health Care Group, said: “Medical tourism is booming at our hospital as we receive thousands of tourist patients each month. We feel TKR is a surgery which is much in demand and this revolutionary new technique will be a great attraction for our patients.”