The surgeon, who is currently based at Lenox Hill Hospital, New York was on a visit to the city recently and performed these operations in two days. During the process, he also trained Dr C J Thakkar, orthopaedic surgeon at Sion Hospital.

Explaining the concept, Dr Thakkar, associate professor of orthopaedics, Sion Hospital, said that this surgery requires specialised infrastructure like an excellent operation theatre, laminar flow, CT scan and post operative care units. All of these facilities are available at Lilavati Hospital, which enabled Dr Ranawat to undertake these surgeries.

Dr Thakkar said that this operation is performed on patients suffering from arthritis, which becomes extremely painful after a certain stage because the lubricating oils in the joints tend to dryup. Generally, patients take medicines to relieve pain, but after a certain stage the patient becomes wheelchair-bound and the pain becomes unbearable, he said.

At this stage, knee replacement surgery costing nearly Rs one lakh is essential when the surface portion of the joints are shaved off and the artificial joint is attached at the spot, he said. The artificial joint lasts 20 years.