From the press in India comes a report of a 59-year-old woman who received a new knee implant completely coated in several layers of gold.
The patient was Anjali Kore, who was experiencing what she reported as unbearable pain when she tried to walk. Her surgeon, Amit Tyagi, M.D., with the Atlanta hospital at Vasundhara in Ghaziabad briefed her about the gold knee and its advantages. This convinced her to undergo the knee surgery using the gold coated knee implant.
“I was not just briefed about the gold knee by the doctor but also told about the poor quality of various other transplants and the side-effects, ” Kore said “ So, I got the most effective gold knee implant done. I feel much better and can walk around without support and pain.”
“Gold knee is one of the best implants available these days and is the most successful too. It not only increases the life of the implant but also prevents any allergic reactions, ” said Tyagi. “Gold knee implants have unmatched hardness. It can withstand corrosive environment stress and strain that all artificial knees are exposed to in the human body.”.
The news article indicated that the implant was covered with seven layers of gold. It did not report the company that manufactures the gold implant or its cost.
In 2009, in the Journal of Biomedical Material Research, authors Zainali, et al. published the results of an animal study where gold coated implants were compared with un-coated implants. The study is available here.
The authors wrote in their abstract: “Biomechanical push-out tests showed that implants with gold coating had approximately 50% decrease in mechanical strength and stiffness. Histomorphometrical analyses showed gold-coated implants had a decrease in overall total bone-to-implant contact of 35%. Autometallographic analysis revealed few cells loaded with gold close to the gilded implant surface. The findings demonstrate that gilding of implants negatively affects mechanical strength and osseointegration because of a significant effect of the released gold ions on the local inflammatory process around the implant. The possibility that a partial metallic gold coating could prolong the period of satisfactory mechanical strength, however, cannot be excluded.”
where can I get this knee done in Australia?