Dr. Chandrasekhar, Consultant and Orthopaedic surgeon, Sakra World Hospital unveiled the initiative supported by Smith & Nephew, as a part of a public awareness drive in an effort to provide an interactive platform for patients to understand arthritis & joint replacement concepts.

Augmented reality is gradually being used for more practical purposes apart from providing entertaining digital content to the users of smart devices. One such important use of AR is in the field of medicine. This technology is going to play an important role in the future of medicine and is rapidly gaining importance among medical professionals. The capabilities that this technology has can be used to make complex surgical procedures easier. Doctors and other healthcare professionals have lauded this technology for this ability.

"Dedicating the two -advanced technology Apps to the patients of arthritis, Dr. Raajiv Singhal, Group CEO, Sakra World Hospital said “The ability to instantly image the knee in 3D on top of the patient's actual knee anatomy is very powerful for the surgeon to educate the patient by giving the patient improved sensory perception.” Dr. Singhal further added "Millions of patients in India are suffering from Arthritis today and only 130,000 undergo TKR, the main reason being lack of awareness among patients. Hence educating patients is a must. They must avoid delaying the surgery since now here are newer technologies implants which last for 30 years and hence they don’t need to continue living with pain.. In fact a study in the Journal of Arthroplasty shows that if patients know more about their procedure there is better patient satisfaction ’

The 'Augmented Reality App' enables the surgeon to show the patient a composite 3D view of how the knee joint looks & moves and explain the steps of joint replacement surgery. It works on any camera enabled smart phone or tablet. The 3D knee that emerges, automatically superimposes on the patient knee itself giving an effect like the patient can visualise his own knee in 3D. As the patient moves and rotates his/her knee the 3D image also rotates accordingly, giving the patient a 360-degree understanding of his/her knee ailment and the surgical procedure.

Along with this app, Dr. Chandrashekar has also introduced a ‘Power of Touch’ App, which is a patient friendly touch screen educational software and is a one stop information on arthritis. It will enable a patient or patient’s family to understand what are the causes and effects of arthritis and also how a total knee replacement works, its benefits and the care & rehabilitation to be undertaken post a surgery and much more

According to the recent study, Arthritis affects about 13 to 15 per cent of our country’s total population. Studies have shown that 7 out of 10 women suffer from the debilitating effects of Osteoarthritis, or the loss of cartilage in the knee. Total Knee Replacement (TKR) is the answer.