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Successful operation of osteoporotic fractures in nonagenarian
India
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Chandigarh, November 20, 2020:
As the nation is developing, so is our longevity and life expectancy. Osteoporosis causes bones to become porous and thereby becoming weak and brittle that even a trivial fall or even mild stresses such as bending over, coughing, sneezing, and laughing can cause a fracture.
Bone is living tissue that is constantly being broken down and replaced all the time. Osteoporosis occurs when the formation of new bone does not keep up with the loss of old bone. Bone mass increases up to 30 years of age when it achieves its peak. It remains almost constant from 30-50 years and then it starts decreasing after 50 years in female and 65 years in male,
Osteoporosis affects both men and women of all races, but Asian women, especially post-menopausal are at high risk. Certain medications like steroids and anti-epileptic and certain diseases like hypothyroidism, diabetes along with an unhealthy diet, sedentary work increase the chance of osteoporosis.
Dr. Gaurav Sanjay told that osteoporosis is such a serious health issue that being an orthopaedic surgeon I see at least one new or old fracture in a day in my clinical practice. It is just by chance or it is the true picture of osteoporotic fracture in Indian society, as in the past week, I have seen three different patients of osteoporosis having fractures of the spine, hip, and wrist which are the commonest osteoporotic fracture.
On the first day, a 91-year-old male had a gradual onset of back pain after a trivial fall. He had a fracture of D 12 vertebra without any obvious injury in the back.
Another patient, a 97-year-old female sustained left hip fracture due to slip from bed at night.
On the third day, a 50-year-old post-menopausal female with a right wrist fracture, who also had asthma.
I would like to mention here that this is the common presentation of the osteoporotic fracture not only in my OPD but in all orthopaedic OPDs.
The fracture alone is itself a problem, but because of their increased age, they are having co-morbidities like diabetes, hypertension, cardiac, and asthma, which further increase the problem and make the anesthesia and surgical procedure a high-risk procedure and their post-operative recovery seems to be unpredictable. Having experience in different developed countries I can say for sure that even in our country patient after getting the best treatment can survive for more than a decade in many cases, these views were expressed by Dr. Gaurav.
As it is said prevention is better than cure. We should make efforts to prevent osteoporosis. We should take a balanced and nutritious diet that is rich in calcium and vitamin D. We should maintain routine physical activities to maintain our bone health. Consumption of alcohol and smoking should be avoided in old age. If by chance, there is a fracture then it should be treated early and fixation should be secured to mobilize the patient early.
Author : Dr. Gaurav Sanjay of Sanjay Orthopaedic, Spine & Maternity Center, Dehradun.
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