Arm bone replacement ‘Humerus surgery’

HYDERABAD: Prime
Hospitals in the city has
performed a total Humerus
(arm bone) replacement on
a 25-year-old female patient,
a rarely done procedure for
cancers of the arm bone.
Swapna, hailing from
Dindi Mandal of Nalgonda
District, was suffering from
bone tumour of the arm bone
caused by ‘Ewing’s Sarcoma’
of the humerus, Hospital
Chief Orthopaedic Surgeon,
Dr G Satish Reddy, said at
a press conference here this
evening.
Dr Reddy said the preservation
of the affected limb
was successful and the patient
was recovering well.
He said the surgery, performed
for the fi rst time in
Andhra Pradesh a week ago,
almost took fi ve hours and
cost Rs two Lakh.
Narrating the problem of
the patient, Dr Reddy said
Swapna presented herself
with a complaint of pain and
swelling of the right arm for
the past few months. Investigations
indicated a pathological
fracture of the proximal
humerus.
Further scans showed
highly malignant tumor,
which had not spread to
other parts of the body. A biopsy
done in October 2011
indicated it as ‘Ewing’s Sarcoma’,
a highly malignant
tumour of the bone. She was
then subjected to chemotherapy
during which the
fracture healed and the volume
of the tumor subsided.
The Chief Orthopaedic
Surgeon said subsequent
review of the scans after
chemotherapy showed that
the entire arm bone was affected
by cancer and a decision
was made to replace
entire arm bone.
“Though an extremely
complex surgery, the humerus
was entirely resected
with parts of shoulder muscles
and arm muscles, while
taking care to preserve the
nerves and blood vessels
of the limb,” he said. To
a question, Dr Reddy said
there is no increase in the
rate of complications, recurrence
or decrease in life expectancy
of the patient.