New Delhi –15 August: In today’s world of break neck speed in every walk of life, you surely need well oiled joints, literally. You can ill afford being weak-kneed and tottering. So the need of the hour is to keep a tab on your joints which might be heading to a point of no return. Lest you end up being a candidate for knee replacement, lend your ears to what Delhi Cartilage Club’s motto reads: ‘Restore the Cartilage and preserve a joint’.
Cartilage is the key in preserving the joint and averting knee replacement. Delhi Cartilage Club has taken it upon itself to sensitise people, doctors and governments to take care of joints well in time. The club, first of its kind in India, was launched last week for promoting cartilage repair treatment & regenerative medicine in the company of more than 100 veritable who’s who of Orthopaedics including joint and cartilage experts.
The icing on the cake was presence of Prof. A. A. Shetty, the leading cartilage scientist from UK. Dr. Shetty, Chairman, Orthopaedic Surgery and Director of Research, Institute of Medical Sciences, Faculty of Health and Wellbeing, Canterbury Christchurch University, gave keynote address on the need to preserve joints at least to delay the eventuality of knee replacement.
Dr. Raju Vaishya, President of Arthritis Care Foundation and Senior Orthopaedic & Joint Replacement Surgeon at Indraprastha Apollo Hospital, has been made the coordinator of the club. Dr. Vaishya bemoaned that there are many barriers to the routine use of useful cartilage restoration techniques due to lack of clear guidelines and understanding of the administrators, insurance companies and approving authorities from the government side. He urged the union government to remove these barriers for benefits of patients.
Dr. Vaishya further said- DCC plans to launch various activities in Delhi to make people aware of the need of joint preservation. Through the activities of the club, we hope to create awareness amongst the doctors about the latest scientific techniques in the field of cartilage restoration and regeneration. I strongly feel that ‘Regenerative Medicine’ will win over ‘Reconstructive Medicine’ in times to come’.
The pioneering Delhi club will work as a subsidiary of Indian Cartilage Society (ICS). On the occasion, Dr Deepak Goyal, President, ICS, said, “Due to increasing knowledge and promising results, cartilage repair treatment is now moving out of the realm of super specialists to the more widespread orthopaedic community. Both the doctors and the patients are now looking out for the so-called ‘biologic treatment’ option for joint injury and disease.”
Prof. A A Shetty, who has invented a single-stage procedure for cartilage transplantation, was quite a treatise on cartilage preservation. Elucidating on the science of cartilage preservation, he said, “Injury to the cartilage is quite troublesome. Once an injury occurs to the cartilage, it is seldom repaired. Cartilage defects have a tendency to progress, leading to symptomatic Osteoarthritis (OA) and ultimately resulting in the requirement of a joint replacement. Hence, interventions aimed at repairing and restoring the cartilage is needed, especially in younger individuals. He added: In the last two decades, there has been a flurry of interest in cartilage research. Many techniques are now being used for cartilage repair, including cartilage transplantation, either as a two-stage or a single-stage procedure.”
Cartilage is a connective tissue found in several parts of the body. Although it is a tough and flexible material, it is relatively easy to damage. This fine, rubbery tissue acts as a cushion between the bones of j
