Mohali
8 January 2021
DIVYA AZAD
A team of doctors at Fortis Hospital, Mohali performed a rare procedure – Reverse Shoulder Arthroplasty or Reverse Shoulder replacement – to cure a 76-year-old woman from Khamaon in Fatehgarh Sahib district, Punjab with severe shoulder arthritis and massive shoulder tendon tears. This unique surgery was performed by Dr Manit Arora, an Orthopaedic and Sports Medicine Surgeon at Fortis Hospital, Mohali.
The patient was suffering from severe pain in her shoulder for the past 4 to 5 years and was unable to lift her arm to do her basic activities. She visited and consulted at many places where she was diagnosed with frozen shoulder and was administered many steroid injections. However, when she visited Dr Manit Arora at Fortis Hospital, Mohali, it was found that her rotator cuff had severely damaged as many of her tendons with massive tears due to injections administered. This resulted in severe arthritis which was causing agonising pain.
After a thorough examination and careful patient recovery plan, Dr Arora advised the patient to undergo Reverse Arthroplasty or Reverse Shoulder Replacement surgery. This procedure involves reversal of the normal ball and socket structure at the rotator cuff. Thereafter, an artificial ball is attached to the shoulder blade at the top end of the bone. The cup of the shoulder joint is also replaced and put into a reverse position. It took 1.5 hours to successfully perform this surgery. The patient has since recovered and is now completely pain free and healthy enough to perform all her usual daily routine activities like combing her hairs or changing clothes with ease.
Speaking about the procedure, Dr Arora said, “In our region we have suffered for too long due to shoulder pain issues being routinely diagnosed as frozen shoulder and treated without any proper investigation being done, each shoulder pain is different and it’s important to understand whether it is a frozen shoulder or something else like the lady above. We are very happy to see our patient happy and many patients like her for whom our team has performed shoulder replacement surgery over the last two to three years are also happy and pain free. This unique surgery of the reverse shoulder improves the quality of life of such patients.”
