This wheel-chair bound girl is running again

A genetic condition destroyed her hips and made it impossible for this 23-year-old to move around. She was restricted to a wheelchair and in constant pain. After city doctors replaced both her hips, she was able to stand up and run. She is the youngest in India to get both hips replaced.

Promi Khisa, 23, was in severe pain for the last seven years because of an auto-immune disease and she was wheel-chair bound for around a year and a half. Now, after two surgeries to replace both her hip joints, she can not only stand but even run.

Doctors at a Delhi hospital made 23-year-old Bangladeshi girl, Promi Khisa, walk after nearly two years(HT photo)

Khisa, who is from Bangladesh, had a condition called Systemic Lupus Erythematous (SLE), which caused pain, swelling and deformities in her hip joints, which gradually worsened over time.

“In spite of having pain-killers, she was in pain. She could not even sleep properly. She could not move around and attend to her daily needs,” said Dr Yash Gulati, who performed her hip-replacement surgery at Indraprastha Apollo. According to him, Khisa is the youngest person to undergo replacement of both hip-joints in India.

A total hip replacement, a surgery to remove damaged bone and cartilage of the hip joint and replace it with prosthetic components, is most commonly performed in old patients with osteoarthritis.

“We get children as young as 5, who have damaged hip joints because of genetic conditions. But, when it comes to hip replacement, doctors discourage it in younger patients, unless it is absolutely necessary. This is to prevent several repeat surgeries later on in life,” said Dr Ajay Gupta, professor of orthopaedics at Lok Nayak hospital.

He also warns that younger patients are more likely to damage the joints faster. “The activity levels in younger patients is bound to be higher than in someone who is 60 or 70 years-old. This means there will be more wear and tear in the joint and it may have to be replaced sooner,” he said.

Khisa is happy. “I was in pain even while resting and lying down. I could not stand because of the pain and even moving around in a wheelchair was very painful. I had gone to several clinics and hospitals, but they were not able to help me with the pain because of the severity of the condition,” she said. Now, she can even jog.

The surgery cost her around R 3 lakhs and she could leave the hospital in six days.

“Three months after the surgery, she is now able to do all the household chores and even go for jogging. We also used a high-end implant, so that it lasts longer. She is young and can lead a better life, she was living in too much pain. In maybe 15 or 20 years she might need to get another surgery, but it’s worth it,” said Dr Gulati.

Dr Gulati was also the surgeon who performed the single hip replacement in the youngest person in India – a 13-year-old Nigerian who was suffering from sickle-cell anaemia.

“Khisa will be leading a completely normal life without any medicines or pain. The only medicines she would need to take are the disease modifying drugs that are needed for her condition SLE,” said Dr Gulati.