Stem cell medicine restores sports career of doctor

Khyati Sharad Vakharia, a 26-year-old national pole vaulting champion and medical doctor, had lost hope of continuing her almost established sports career. For the kind of game involving a lot of strain on the back, trunk and knees, Vakharia had to give up pole vaulting after she suffered severe pain and discomfort due to an internal knee injury.

An impressive gymnast for the last four years, this MBBS-graduate from Bengaluru Medical College represented India at Asian championships in pole vaulting. But she could not undertake training due to knee pain. “I started experiencing pain around front portion of left knee joint two years ago. Although I ignored it initially, the pain aggravated so much that I was limping and could not continue training for a year”, she told the presspersons.

Luckily, the disappointment was only for a short time. The sports medicine specialists at Fortis Hospital, Bangalore, she says, used a combination of targeted radiotherapy and stem cell medicine to successfully treat her. With this, Khyati plans to restart her career in sports and is heading to United States for a six-month training in pole vault.

Khyati said that the doctor diagnosed her for patellar tendinitis with Hoffa’s Pad thickening and fat pad, which is commonly seen in most sportsmen and more commonly in sportswomen.

Dr P C Jagadeesh, Consultant Arthroscopy and Sports Medicine, Fortis Hospitals, who chalked out treatment plan for Khyati said that keyhole surgery (arthroscopy) was carried out with the use of Radio Frequency Ablation (RFA) to trim out and smoothen the damaged cartilages. The tendinitis was treated by administering PRP (Plasma Rich Protein) injection to the tendon under ultrasound guidance. This type of therapy helps sportspersons get back in form fast, he said.