North Wales surgeon’s ground-breaking robotic knee surgery helps retired teacher

Ground-breaking robotic surgery carried out by a North Wales surgeon has helped a retired teacher return to the active lifestyle she loves.

Consultant orthopaedic surgeon Muthu Ganapathi, who practises at the Spire Hospitals in Wrexham and the Wirral, has been one of the pioneers of robotic knee replacement in the UK.

He recently carried out his 100th successful robot-assisted operation on 66-year-old Janet Carroll, whose arthritic knee had meant she had struggled to walk her grandchildren to primary school.

Jan, a former primary school teacher from Wallasey was barely able to walk the half a mile to the school or keep up her youngest grandson, Dylan.

Now she’s back on duty now after a miraculous recovery which saw her walking the day after a 90-minute robotic knee replacement operation carried out under spinal anaesthetic by Mr Ganapathi.

In this cutting edge technology, while the 3-D planning is still done by the experienced surgeon, the robot places the cutting guide precisely in the planned position for him to make the bone cuts much more accurately than ‘eye balling’ for traditional knee replacement techniques.

Robotic knee replacement is only available in a very few hospitals in the UK but even Mr Ganapathi was surprised at the speed of Janet’s recovery.

Retired Wallasey teacher Jan Carroll back on the school run with grandchildren Bethany, left, Amber and Thomas (Picture credit: Mandy Jones)

“Janet has done remarkably well. She was able to walk unaided in the first postoperative day and was walking essentially normally in the community at eight days – this is not normal after knee replacements,” he said.

“It was just wear and tear but I was in a lot of pain and couldn’t really walk or cycle although I could still swim – my knee wouldn’t straighten so I walked with a limp,” said Jan.

“I went to my doctor but it was more than a year’s wait to have the knee done on the NHS and people I spoke to recommended Mr Ganapathi.

“I went in to Spire Murrayfield on a Monday and had the operation that afternoon and came out on Wednesday morning – I decided to stay an extra day to make sure everything was OK.

“I had an epidural for the operation so I was sedated but was still conscious. I remember hearing a bit of noise but I didn’t feel a thing.

“Although I have a six or seven inch scar across my knee it wasn’t as painful as I expected and the staff managed the pain relief very well.

“The next morning the physiotherapist came and I was up and walking straight away, at first with a frame and then with two sticks and I could walk unaided by the second day.

“They said that was unusual – most people take about two weeks but it was mainly down to the nature of the surgery.

Orthopaedic surgeon Muthu Ganapathi who has carried out 100 knee replacements with his trusty robot colleague (Picture Credit: Mandy Jones)

“I’m back swimming and on an exercise bike and up and down stairs is easy now when I was having to go up one at a time and I’m back on the school run and looking after Dylan.”

Mr Ganapathi added: “With the personalised knee replacement technique I am doing with the robot, many patients have less pain and recover much faster.

“What I’m aiming for is to match the knee replacement to be as close to how it was before the arthritis and the robotic assistance helps me do the personalised bone cuts. This is very different from the traditional technique where we do the bone cuts in the same way for all patients.

“Jan was my 100th robotic knee replacement and she has done remarkably well. She was able to walk unaided in the first postoperative day and was walking essentially normally in the community at eight days which is remarkable.

“This is not normal after traditional knee replacements but with the personalised knee replacement technique I perform with the robot, many patients seem to recover much faster with surprisingly little pain.”

Muthu Ganapathi is a specialist hip and knee surgeon who is based in North Wales, where he is also a consultant ay Ysbyty Gwynedd in Bangor.

He trained in India and completed his higher specialist training in orthopaedics in Wales including an arthroplasty fellowship in Cardiff before gaining an advanced lower limb fellowship in Montreal, Canada.