Doctors save 2 kids suffering from rarest form of cancer

NEW DELHI: Doctors at a leading hospital saved two young kids suffering from osteosarcoma, a rarest type of cancer.

Five-year-old Atharv had osteosarcoma near hip joint and seven-year-old Irfan’s lower thighbone developed a cancer. Doctors claimed it was unfortunate because the available treatment meant amputation of the affected portion or removal of tumor and implantation of metallic prosthesis. Doctors performed new technique of limb salvaging called rotationplasty.

According to doctors, Atharv had the sarcoma at upper femur, near the hip joint while Md Irfan had a 10 cm tumor near the knee. Talking about these two rare cases, associate director and head, Musculoskeletal Oncology, Max Super Speciality Hospital, Saket, Dr Akshay Tiwari said, “One of the key advantage of rotationplasty compared to other surgical options is that it allows the child to have a complete active lifestyle. With limb-salvage surgery or full amputation, the child wouldn’t have been able to do high impact sports.”

Dr Tiwari said that in rotationplasty, the segment of limb with the disease is cut and only the artery, vein and nerve is preserved.