Apollo News (1108)
Milestones
Apollo Hospitals, Hyderabad, successfully performs a Presbyopia implant for the first time in South India
The procedure was performed by Dr. Rajesh Fogla, Senior Consultant, Ophthalmologist, Apollo Hospitals, Hyderabad using the Ziemer Z6 Femtosecond laser, one of the most advanced laser system from Switzerland.
“In our 40s and 50s, one begins to experience the naturally frustrating effects of blurry near vision. Reading the newspaper, ordering off a menu, even grocery shopping becomes a struggle. This is due to Presbyopia, which is the loss of near vision because of the stiffening of the natural lens on account of ageing,” Dr.Fogla pointed out.
Reading glasses become necessary for near vision. Besides reading glasses, the other option is mono-vision, which is achieved using contact lens or refractive surgery. However, one of the disadvantages of mono-vision is reduction in distance vision in the eye corrected for near vision, Dr.Fogla said.
The inlay is a film-like ring implant with an opening in the center. It is placed inside the cornea. The central opening helps focus the light coming into the eye, improving ability to see clearly at all distances.
Clinical Excellence
A rare Bone Replacement Surgery performed by Indraprastha Apollo Hospitals, New Delhi, successfully cures an u...
Having undergone three failed surgeries to treat multiple point recurrent cancer of the leg bone in Uzbekistan, 24 year old SobidjOn Juraev had given up all hope of returning to a normal life. The resurgence of the cancer despite several rounds of treatment also posed serious threat of a leg amputation or worse, a disarticulation of the hip. This is when the young man and his family decided to travel to India to seek medical help.
In a rare and difficult surgery that lasted for 8 hours, Dr.Rajeev K Sharma, Senior Consultant, Orthopedics & Joint Replacement Surgery along with his team including Dr. V.P Singh, Cancer Surgeon at Indraprastha Apollo Hospitals, New Delhi, performed an extremely rare form of Total Femoral Replacement Surgery on Mr. Juraev and removed the entire cancer-affected bone right from the hip to the knee, replacing it with an artificial Total Femoral Replacement implant.
The difficult surgery which was a combination of Hip & Knee Replacement has cured the patient of cancer, eliminating the risk of a permanent disability. A failure to get rid of the cancer affected bone would have led to two eventualities: either a disarticulation of the hip (surgical removal of the entire lower limb at the hip level) or an amputation of the leg to save the life of the man. However, both these situations would have resulted in permanent disability.
“We examined the patient thoroughly and discovered that the cancer in the Right femur bone had recurred. Now, it was at three points in the right femur bone between the hip and the knee, necessitating an amputation which would have been a life-long disability for the young man,” said Dr Rajeev K Sharma, Senior Consultant, Orthopedics & Joint Replacement Surgeon at Indraprastha Apollo Hospitals, New Delhi.
“Total Femoral Replacement in this case was a very difficult and rare surgery as it was a kind of a combination of hip replacement, knee replacement and thigh bone replacement. To be able to get rid of the cancer completely, we needed to remove the entire stretch of thigh bone from the right hip to the right knee and reconstruct the same artificially. It was a challenging surgery as it involved the removal of the whole thigh bone at the same time. The challenges included threat of post-surgical infection, knee and hip instability and damage to the nerves and vessels of the area. However, in an 8-hour procedure, we successfully removed the full cancerous thigh bone and replaced it with an artificial Total Femoral Implant,” added Dr Sharma.
The patient is responding well to the surgery and hopes to get back to his normal youthful life soon.
Awards & Accolades
Apollo Gleneagles Hospitals, Kolkata is reaccredited by the Joint Commission International (JCI) accreditation...
Apollo Gleneagles Hospitals, Kolkata has received the official letter of Accreditation from the Joint Commission International (JCI). The third time Triennial Survey was conducted from February 9 – 13, 2015 by four surveyors – Ms Angela Norton, Dr Stewart Hamilton, Ms Courtney Cosby and Ms Marianne Semrad.
The surveyors said, “the organization performed exceptionally well in providing safe and effective care to the patients. The organization met 100% in the standards and over 99.6% of the measurable elements”.
The incredible journey of Joint Commission Reaccreditation bears a testimony to the months of hard work from all levels of physicians, nurses and other staff in the hospital and their unflinching determination to provide best and safest care to patients. The fact was highlighted even more by the responses from patients and families on the quality of care provided in the hospital during the survey that left the surveyors mesmerized.
Technology
Apollo Gleneagles Hospitals, Kolkata launches India’s first Cellvizio System
Apollo Gleneagles Institute of Gastroenterology, Kolkata, one of the renowned names in the field has reinforced its commitment of pioneering various new initiatives and technology in the region by launching the globally renowned “”Cellvizio Technology”” for the first time in India, in association with Mauna Kea Technologies, global market leaders in the optical biopsy market. Cellvizio is a probe-based Confocal Laser Endomicroscopy (pCLE) system that provides physicians and researchers high-resolution cellular views of tissue inside the body. With Cellvizio, a microscope is threaded through an endoscope to enable physicians to see real-time what normally is seen under a microscope.
The Cellvizio Technology was launched by Dr. Mahesh Goenka, Director, Apollo Institute of Gastroenterology and the first doctor in the country to use this technology. Dr. Rupali Basu, President & CEO, Apollo Gleneagles Hospitals and Eastern Region, Apollo Hospitals, India was also present during the occasion.
Today, leading physicians around the world are using this flexible, fibre-optic probe-based microscope device called Cellvizio. Cellvizio magnifies the tissue up to thousand times, providing physicians additional real-time information about the tissue microstructure. The Cellvizio technology can be used to assess the tissue both in the digestive system as well as the pulmonary tract. Until now, this hasn’t been always possible with traditional endoscopic imaging technologies. Benign, pre-cancerous and cancerous lesions are often indistinguishable from each other upon endoscopy unless viewed at the cellular level.
Cellvizio is indeed a complete Endomicroscopy platform that can benefit endoscopists from different fields who seek one common goal: to detect disease earlier and improve patient outcomes.
Speaking on the occasion, Dr. Mahesh Goenka, Director, Apollo Gleneagles Institute of Gastroenterology said, “This is great news for our patients. Optical biopsy with Cellvizio can now be used for improved patient management in several key gastroenterological indications and I am proud to be the first doctor in the country to provide such advanced care”.
Dr. Rupali Basu, CEO, Apollo Gleneagles Hospitals further added, “The addition of Cellvizio is a great example of how we continue to break new grounds in India. An endoscopy is a technique which is an integral part of medical treatment. Cellvizio is a step to advance this technology further. Endoscopy is very vital to detecting a disease or condition deep within the body and the subsequent treatment depends on the outcome of this procedure. However, before the introduction of Cellvizio, a truly microscopic view of the inner body may not have been possible in most cases. Since Cellvizio combines both endoscopy and microscopy, the outcome is certainly more accurate and definitive. Also, patients want their physicians to be able to diagnose or rule out a problem during an examination and then treat the problem as fast as possible without the need to come back for a separate procedure. This was not possible earlier in the absence of Cellvizio.”
New Initiatives
Medvarsity online enters into an agreement with Martin Luther Christian University
Medvarsity, India’s first Medical e-learning venture was established in April 2000 and is an initiative by Apollo Hospitals Group.
Medvarsity’s online education portal has been pivotal in enhancing the standard of medical practice, education and research by strengthening the post graduate medical education and continued medical education.
Students enrolled in 2011 – 12 & 2012 – 2013 will be eligible for the MLCU certification. With this added value of an affiliation with an UGC recognized university like MLCU, Medvarsity now plans to re-engineer some of its courses to suit the fast changing requirements. Medvarsity delivers Information Technology based quality education to the Health Care Providers (HCP) at any distance and to facilitate cutting edge research in delivery of medical education. It complements the existing education system for the health care providers. Students both domestic and international can enroll for Medvarsity programs for further education or career advancement at work.
Over 32000 students have benefitted from continuing medical education through top quality validated content provided by Medvarsity. The students have been able to strengthen basic conceptual foundation of the undergraduates, postgraduates and other HCPs. By applying information technology tools and computer based solutions for the simplification of complex subjects, Medvarsity seeks to facilitate the learning process across the network of delivery points spread across the country. This obviates the need for geographical relocation of health care professionals.
New Initiatives
Apollo Hospitals and DATRI bring together donor and recipient of stem cell donation for the first time in Chen...
Over 100,000 Indians are diagnosed with blood cancer which is quite alarming. Stem cell donation, even though relatively new, has the capacity to increase survival chances of cancer patients. When 17 year old Ankit was diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML), a form of blood cancer, little did he know that a stranger from Ahmedabad would be his saviour and help him conquer cancer. 24 year old Jinal Patel, had registered with DATRI hoping that someday a precious life might hopefully find use of her cells. Today, Ankit is cured of cancer and Ms Patel is grateful that she had the opportunity to help him.
Expressing her feelings, the donor said, “Donating blood stem cells doesn’t affect a donor’s health is a fact unknown to many. It is the best feeling in the world to save a life and be responsible to our community.”
Senior Consultant, Paediatric Hematology Dr. Revathi Raj who treated the patient said, “”There is still some amount of stigma associated with cancer which can be eliminated only by increasing awareness on the treatment procedures and highlighting successful case stories which will break the taboo associated with cancer. Significant improvements have occurred in the treatment of childhood cancers and we now have the technology and infrastructure to enable the treatment of several blood related disorders. While earlier we had to depend mostly on foreign registries to find an unrelated matched donor, where the probabilities of a match are lower, we now have a viable option of DATRI. DATRI has helped find donors for 17 paediatric patients who got treated in Apollo Chennai and most of these children have survived. She also congratulated DATRI on their tremendous effort.”” DATRI is India’s largest registry of voluntary blood stem cell donors.
DATRI has successfully created the largest and credible database of 70000 voluntary donors from diverse ethnic backgrounds and has successfully facilitated 82 transplants.
New Initiatives
Apollo Hospitals announces Sanofi’s investment in Apollo Sugar Clinics!
Apollo Sugar is a disease management clinic focused on providing high quality, integrated care across its clinics for people with diabetes. ASCL is a Subsidiary of Apollo Health & Lifestyle, the arm of the Apollo Hospitals Group that is driving its rapid growth in primary and secondary healthcare.
In India, Diabetes afflicts over 65 million citizens, and in addition to this over 77 million people have been diagnosed as being pre-diabetic. These numbers are still growing significantly and the total number of Diabetics in India is expected to rise to 109 million by 2035. Apollo Sugar offers access to an integrated Diabetes care solution via a combination of high quality clinical infrastructure including early detection and protocol driven treatment of Diabetes, complemented by a robust set of lifestyle management programs. Through this investment, both Apollo and Sanofi would endeavour to expand Apollo Sugar to provide superior value to patients and Doctors with an enhanced geographic reach, and provide high quality outcome oriented set of services.
Commenting on the collaboration, Dr. Prathap Reddy, Chairman and Founder, Apollo Hospitals Group said, “Over the years, Apollo Hospitals has benchmarked global best practices in quality healthcare delivery with stringent alignment to approved standards and protocols. With the increasing burden of Diabetes in our society, we need to act quickly and with a sense of purpose to arrest the disease from claiming more lives. I am confident that with this investment, Apollo Sugar Clinics is even better positioned to offer patients advanced care and counselling for Diabetes management. This is a good start towards improving the Diabetes management programme in India and I am delighted to be partnering with Sanofi, a global leader in Diabetes management. Our shared vision will provide a new approach to Diabetes care to benefit patients in India and other parts of the world.”
Ms.Sangita Reddy, Chairperson, Apollo Sugar and Joint Managing Director, Apollo Hospitals said “We have presented at the American Diabetes Association conference and have been recognized for delivering exceptional clinical outcomes in managing Diabetes, some of which were attempted and successful for the first time in India. However, we as a country are still battling with the image of being the Diabetes capital of the world. We understand that a diagnosis of Diabetes and pursuit of necessary lifestyle changes is daunting for patients. At Apollo Sugar, a patient with Diabetes has access to information, the right treatment, co-morbidities management, counselling, care and treatment to sustainably manage diabetes. We are now keen to take Apollo Sugar’s comprehensive offering to many more parts of India.”
Commenting on the investment by Sanofi, Mr.Neeraj Garg, Chief Executive Officer of Apollo Health & Lifestyle said “At Apollo Sugar, we offer best in class clinical care delivered in our conveniently located facilities, and combine it with a comprehensive, 360° patient lifestyle management program to help patients to successfully manage Diabetes and avoid related complications. The investments made by Sanofi and the strong support of both our shareholders, enables us to grow our footprint to offer our services at many more clinics across India, and provide millions of Diabetic customers access to world class care at their doorstep.”
New Initiatives
Apollo Health and Lifestyle Ltd. expands its footprint with the acquisition of Nova Specialty Hospitals
Nova Specialty Hospital’s existing centres will serve as new centres under the Apollo brand & will benefit from Apollo’s legacy of expertise, clinical excellence and empathy. This acquisition fits into the growth strategy of AHLL, providing a larger footprint, including in some markets where the company has no presence currently.
Commenting on this strategic move, Ms. Sangita Reddy, Joint Managing Director – Apollo Hospital Enterprises Limited said, “AHLL is currently present in the secondary care segment through the Day Surgery & Cradle formats. Given the immense potential and the need for quality healthcare delivery closer to the home, this acquisition will enable AHLL to significantly expand its’ footprint and will catapult it into a leadership position in this segment of healthcare. We believe the format has strong potential and with the brand equity of Apollo, combined with the deep hospital expertise we bring to bear, AHLL will grow this business significantly in the next few years. There is strong synergy between NSH format and the tertiary care hospitals and we intend to capture these synergies to the benefit of the patients we serve, and Doctors we partner with. This acquisition will also mark the entry of Apollo in new markets such as Mumbai, Jaipur and Kanpur, where we have for many years had patients waiting for Apollo’s medical excellence and compassionate care to serve them”. In the coming months, Apollo will re-launch these centres with new branding, an expanded menu of services and quality systems built on Apollo’s deep expertise in the hospitals space.”
“Nova Specialty Hospitals is a chain of 11 Short Stay Surgery Centres which are equipped with advanced medical facilities backed by good surgical teams. These Centres are designed to provide convenient facilities for patients to undergo planned surgeries. In addition, AHLL will strengthen the service offerings in these centres by introducing Apollo’s Preventive Health Checks and also establishing Sugar Clinics. AHLL is aiming to create a business of Rs 500 crs in 5 years in the space of multi-specialty Short stay/Day surgery centres.”” said Mr Neeraj Garg, Chief Executive Officer, Apollo Health & Lifestyle Ltd.
The acquired chain of Nova Specialty Hospitals is spread over 8 cities and will add to the Apollo network 45 Modular OTs, over 350 patient beds, with an average 20,000 sq.ft of built-up space in each centre. These centres provide both In-patient and OPD services with 60% of the procedures currently being done as day procedures.
Mr. Suresh Soni, Chairman Nova Medical Centres said, “Nova Specialty Hospitals were early movers in the concept of Short Stay Surgeries in India. The main focus was making quality health care affordable and accessible to the masses. Nova had established a pan India footprint with 11 centres, over 800 surgical procedures, 500+ doctors in 5 years. The Apollo Group is now in a position to accelerate NSH’s growth given its position as the pre-eminent hospital group with a well-established brand. I am glad and satisfied that Nova’s Specialty Hospitals are in the best possible hands and care to grow from here.”
The Apollo Hospitals group has always been proactive in offering healthcare to meet the changing patterns of diseases and constantly strives to make quality medical care accessible to all. Through this acquisition, AHLL delivers on its promise to create newer ways to deliver high quality healthcare, through enhanced service delivery models, which will benefit the entire health eco-system including its physicians & patients.
Clinical Excellence
Apollo Hospitals, Chennai successfully performed a Robotic surgery for Cancer base of the tongue, a first of i...
Life was not the same when 69 years old Mr. Gobardhan Sharma was diagnosed with cancer of base of tongue. The family said it was truly saddening to witness him go through the agony. The views and opinions expressed by different people about his cancer and its treatment added to his pain.
Approximately 500,000 people worldwide are diagnosed with head and neck cancers each year. In India, 20 to 40% of cancers arise in the head and neck region. Treatment of head and neck cancer often involves a combination of surgery, radiation, and chemotherapy. Though greatest chance of cure can be achieved with surgical removal of the cancer in most of the cases, traditional open surgical approaches require long incisions in the neck or splitting the jaw, resulting in speech and swallowing problems.
In comparison, Trans Oral Robotic Surgery (TORS) is a minimally invasive treatment option which accesses and removes the cancer through the mouth. TORS has been shown to improve long term swallowing function, reduce risk of infection and fastens the recovery time.
TORS was developed by Dr Gregory Weinstein and Dr. Bert O’Malley in 2004 at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine (PENN) and approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 2009.
During TORS, the surgeon uses a sophisticated, computer-enhanced system which displays a magnified, 3-D view of the surgical area that enables him to visualize the procedure in much greater detail than in a traditional surgery. TORS gives the surgeon an enhanced view of the cancer and surrounding tissue. Using a robotic system to guide the surgical tools, allows for more-precise movements in narrow spaces and the capability to work around corners. This result in preservation of maximum amount of healthy muscular and neurovascular tissue which helps the patient swallow on their own sooner and discharged home earlier.
Mr. Gobardhan Sharma’s cancer was successfully resected with TORS by Dr Venkatakarthikeyan C, Consultant ENT – Head & Neck Surgeon and his team. (Dr Venkatakarthikeyan was trained by Drs. Weinstein and O’Malley at PENN in Trans Oral Robotic Surgery). The patient’s recovery was remarkable. He is now pain free, eating normally and has adequate speech performance.
Awards & Accolades
Apollo Hospitals wins the I.C.O.N.I.C IDC Insights Award for industry best practices in Health & Life Sci...
Apollo Hospitals was felicitated with the I.C.O.N.I.C IDC Insights Award at a glittering ceremony on 12th December 2014 at the Hyderabad International Convention Centre.
International Data Corporation (IDC) rolled out the I.C.O.N.I.C Insights Awards in India on completing 50 glorious years of providing strategic insights to help clients achieve their key business objectives. Hosted for the first time in India, the prestigious Insights awards honour the business and IT leaders who envisaged, conceptualized, and successfully executed an IT/Technology Implementation that brought about tangible results for their organization. The winners, after a rigorous evaluation process, were chosen independently based on the votes of the jury and final validation of the Jury Chair Person.
Ms. Sangita Reddy, Joint Managing Director – Apollo Hospitals Group, said, “We are deeply honoured to receive this prestigious award on behalf of the entire Apollo Family. We take immense pride in accepting this recognition on behalf of our team of esteemed doctors, staff, and Board of Directors, whose hard work and consistent efforts to continually enhance innovative skills, sustain the clinical excellence and keep evolving as per the latest technology trends has put Apollo Hospitals on a raised pedestal. Being in an industry where every passing minute could change a life, IT is lending a hand by improving response times; reducing human error and saving costs.”
Elaborating on some of the unique IT initiatives at Apollo Hospitals, Ms. Sangita Reddy said, “At Apollo, we have a single HIS that connects all our hospitals and clinics. Our EMR is connected to a PHR – Apollo Prism which has close to 2.5 million patients subscribed. We have an effective mHealth platform and eHealth solutions are greatly effective. Apollo has been the pioneer in launching the telemedicine service in rural regions which has proved to be immensely successful in bridging geographical distances and taking quality healthcare to the underprivileged. We are constantly evolving and innovating and strive to come up with exciting technology solutions to deliver effective & efficient healthcare.”
Clinical Excellence
Apollo Medical Centre, Karapakkam, OMR performed a rare LSCS surgery on a patient suffering from Vacterl syndr...
The patient has been associated with the medical team over the last four years where she had undergone genetic counseling and was encouraged to get married and start a family as the chances of having a normal baby was very high.
The patient suffered from Kyphosis, had Polydactly on the hand and had also undergone surgical repositioning of stenosed anus right after her birth. Her large Sub-aortic VSD and severe Infundibular Atresia were operated in May 1999 and a Goretex closure was done through an open heart surgery. A Left sided double moiety ureter re-implantation was done in May 2000 where one of the left sided double ureter was placed near the external urinary meatus giving her incontinence of urine till 2000.
She had an uneventful pregnancy though she suffered from Gestational Diabetes Mellitus (GDM) and her ultrasound showed no-abnormalities as a result of a successfully performed Anal and Ureteric surgery (Lower segment Caesarean section). A female baby was delivered on 6/11/14 to the delight of the patient and her doctors.
Clinical Excellence
Thoraco Omphalopagus conjoined female twins from Tanzania were successfully separated at Apollo Children’...
In yet another medical marvel showcasing clinical excellence at Apollo Hospitals, doctors successfully separated the rare Thoraco Omphalopagus twins who were joined at the lower chest and abdomen. Technical and medical expertise helped prevent excessive blood loss during the separation, which was one of the most crucial aspects of the surgery along with precise division of the shared structures. Same time last year, Ericana & Eluidi, also from Tanzania, were the first pair of Pygopagus male twins to be successfully separated in India by Apollo Hospitals, thereby strengthening India’s image as a preferred destination for world class healthcare delivery.
Hailing from Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzanian, twins Abriana and Adriana who are eight and a half months, were operated for 11 hours by a team of 50 staff members including surgeons, nurses and intensive care specialists. Father Mr. Jimmy Mtemi and mother Mrs. Carolyn Zakaria were visibly elated post the procedure.
On 21st August 2014, twins Abriana and Adriana were admitted under plastic surgeon Dr KS Sivakumar and on 10th September, they underwent a tissue expander surgery for extending the skin. The final surgery took place on 17th November where the twins were successfully separated by a team of 11 surgeons and 3 anesthetists after a surgery that lasted for 9 hours. It took 4 hours for two teams to then provide the skin cover for the heart, liver and intestine.
The team of doctors who undertook this case include under the supervision of Dr Sripathi include:
Radiologists: Dr Harish and Dr Rochita Ramanan
Anesthesia team: Dr Anuradha Vasudevan, Dr Vasantharoopan, Dr Rajagopal and Dr Sanjay Prabhu
Liver and gastrointestinal team: Dr Mahesh Gopasetty, Dr Anand Ramamurthy, Dr Anand Khakkar, Dr RK Bagdi and Dr Prakash Agarwal
Cardiac team: Dr Neville Solomon and Dr Ganapathy Subramanian
Plastic surgery team: Dr KS Sivakumar, Dr Ganapathy Krishnan, Dr Roshini Gopinathan and Dr Praveen Leela Kumar
Pediatric intensive care: Dr Suchitra Ranjit, Dr Indira Jayakumar and Dr Sathishkumar
Pediatric physician: Dr Jayakumar Reddy
Since 2007, eight pairs of conjoined twins with fused livers and intestines have been reported after separation from various parts of India.
Adriana and Abriana beat incredible odds to survive this rare procedure, which involved separation of the pericardium (heart lining), diaphragm and the connected livers. Conjoined births are rare, one in fifty thousand to one in a lakh. However more than 35% die after birth.
Another important aspect of the surgery was the careful closure of the huge defect created by the separation. “After the separation, Adriana’s heart had to be covered with bovine pericardium and carefully closed with skin and soft tissue. The liver, which was abnormally large, could not be fully reduced in both babies. It took almost four hours and two teams to provide cover for the heart, liver and intestine” added Dr. K S Sivakumar Plastic & Reconstructive Surgeon, Apollo Children’s Hospital, Chennai under whom the twins were admitted.
Commenting on the feat Dr Prathap C Reddy, Chairman & Founder, Apollo Hospitals Enterprises Ltd. added “When I look back at 2014, I can only see how many lives we have touched in a positive way. More than the children’s plight, it’s often the trauma the parents go through that haunts me. With many developing nations like Africa lacking in tertiary care, we often find them coming to India as we have the expertise and skill to offer world class healthcare at a fraction of a cost. It’s heartening to know this Christmas eve Jimmy and Carolyn can be back home with their two daughters and the rest of their family”.
Before separation
After separation
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