End of traumatic ordeal for 74-year-old

Bangalore: Many a times, patients from smaller cities need to travel to faraway destinations to get treated and cured. However, with multispecialty hospital chains this gets easier to manage. Take for example, 74-year-old, Ramananda Rao Malur, an Ayurveda physician from Mysore, who was suffering from Parkinson’s disease. He underwent a DBS surgery from Columbia Asia Referral Hospital, Yeshwanthpur, returned back to the comforts of his home, and continued with follow up sessions regularly at Columbia Asia Hospital, Mysore. Not just that, soon he underwent a Knee replacement surgery, at the hospital in Mysore.

Rao was suffering from Parkinson’s for last 8 years. As the disease started creeping in, Rao could feel tremors in hands, difficulty in walking and slow body movements. However, he could manage these initial symptoms and continue practicing Ayurveda at his clinic cum residence, until 2015. Meanwhile, he also underwent left knee total replacement in the year 2011, as he was suffering from osteoarthrosis (OA) and recovered well.

Though the onsite of Parkinson was seen 8 years back, by 2015, his motor symptoms started worsening. “Initially, I was independent for most of my daily activities. But, for last two years, I was unable to walk properly and started experiencing body stiffness, slowness and abnormal foot movements. It was difficult for me to write prescriptions for my patients, travel and I became wheelchair bound,” said Ramananda Rao.

Despite introducing new medications in the prescription, tremors in his hands persisted throughout the day. The unpredictable and delayed effect of the medication, further limited the scope of increasing the medicine dosage. As Parkinson’s disease became overbearing, he totally forgot the pain in his right knee due to stiffness related to osteoarthritis.

“Struggling with day to day activates including dressing, shaving and eating, the disease made him dependent. He was distressed as the disease restricted him to practice Ayurveda and travel. It was a difficult phase for an active person like him,” said Ramananda Rao’s wife.

Dr. Guruprasad Hosurkar, Consultant – Neurology, Columbia Asia Referral Hospital, Yeshwanthpur said,” He consulted our team last year with the progression of the disease and we suggested bilateral STN DBS surgery to improve his motor symptoms of Parkinson’s disease. However, in view of his age, initially, we were skeptical of the outcomes, and whether he was fit enough to go through the long surgery. Therefore, we got him evaluated thoroughly by the team of doctors including internist, cardiologist, neuropsychologist, and he was found to be fit.”

“When the doctors suggested me the STD DBS surgery, I was highly motivated to undergo the surgery. The optimism of the doctors at Columbia Asia hospital helped me in keeping strength and fight depression. I was looking forward to becoming independent for my daily activities and wanted to get back to practicing Ayurveda,” reminds Ramananda Rao.

Ramananda Rao successfully underwent bilateral STN DBS surgery in May 2016. Post-surgery, his tremors in the hands and gait significantly improved after initial DBS programming. Also, his motor fluctuations along with the requirement of medications related to motor complications reduced, significantly.

“We called him for few follow-up visits for minor adjustments of his DBS parameters and medications, last year and observed that he could walk on his own without any trouble,” said Dr. Guruprasad Hosurkar.

As he started to walk in the light of improved Parkinson’s features post DBS, his right knee pain began to trouble him. Initially, he managed it with analgesics but as the pain and stiffness restricted his mobility once again, he approached doctors at Columbia Asia Hospital. “On examination, we suggested the patient to undergo total knee replacement surgery for the right knee to reduce discomfort, pain and restore his mobility,” said Dr. B.R.Prashanth, Joint Replacement Surgeon, Columbia Asia Hospital, Mysore.

 “The DBS surgery did not hinder other treatments that the patient underwent later. The patient was as normal after the surgery as he was before. Also, the DBS surgery to a certain extent, improved his overall quality of life,” said Dr. Raghuram. G, Senior Consultant – Neurosurgeon and Spine Surgeon, Columbia Asia Referral Hospital, Yeshwanthpur.