Nagpur: Doctors save cancer survivor’s limb, turn him into ‘Ironman’

NAGPUR: Osteosarcoma, a bone cancer mainly affecting the knee, had left Ankit (name changed) staring at a life with disability post surgery, around six months back. Amputation or salvaging his left leg were the only two options given to him as part of the treatment.
The knee cancer took away one-third of his thigh bone and two-thirds of tibia bone. After cancer surgery, Ankit had to undergo a few more surgeries to finally stand on both his feet. However, the event converted his left leg into multiple rod fittings, earning him the sobriquet of ‘Ironman’ from his doctors.
A high-spirited individual, the 21-year-old Kanhan resident’s leg bones between hip and ankle literally turned into metal, supporting the residual bones.
Dr Piyush Nashikkar, consultant orthopaedic surgeon at New Era Hospital, said the malignant tumour of knee is a deadly disease due to the risk of it spreading to the lungs. “Our efforts were complemented by his motivation. Despite five operations, he is hopeful. When he came to us, he had already been treated for knee cancer. He had neck issues and Dr Nilesh Agrawal at our hospital treated him. During this period he suffered a fall,” Dr Nashikkar said.
As it turned into a complicated case, many doctors refused to operate on Ankit as he already had gone under the knife four times. “He first underwent the knee replacement surgery but it failed due to infection. As it failed, doctors had to remove a bigger portion of his bone in the second operation and insert a bigger tumour prothesis. Then it again got infected, requiring a third surgery. In the fourth surgery, his bone was not healing, so they had to operate him again,” he said.
The cancer survivor started walking after the fourth operation but his thigh bone suffered a fracture after a fall. A fifth surgery was done by Dr Nashikkar. “He might need one or two more surgeries,” the orthopaedic surgeon said.
Dr Nashikkar added, “Fractures after knee and hip replacement surgeries are becoming common and the treatment is difficult. This is an example of uncommon surgery where knee joint with leg bone is replaced with tumour prosthesis and artificial knee joint. It is rarer to have fracture (periprosthetic fracture) in these surgeries.”
He further said that the operation was successful and the patient is walking. “It is a challenging situation but needs good evaluation and proper treatment for the patient to get back to normal.”