HTAA operates on centenarian

KUANTAN: The Tengku Ampuan Afzan Hospital (HTAA) here has created medical history with a successful operation on a centenarian, probably the first in Pahang or even the country.
Orthopedic surgeon Dr V. A. Jacob Abraham performed the surgery on Nov 14 last year, inserting a plate in the right thigh of a 104-year-old woman, Hee Lian, who had suffered a femur fracture.
The centenarian had fractured the right thigh bone in a fall near her son's house here and was admitted to the hospital on Nov 6.
Hee Lian, who was born on Aug 11, 1910, was discharged on Nov 21 following the operation, deemed the first ever bold attempt by a government hospital on an elderly patient.
HTAA director Datuk Dr Marlia Mohamed Salleh said Hee Lian was the oldest patient of the hospital to undergo such a successful operation and, possibly, could be the oldest patient in the country as well.
The two-hour procedure was a minimal invasive percutaneous plating on the right thigh of Hee Lian, she said, adding that the patient had had a similar fracture on the same leg 10 years ago which required a dynamic hip screw procedure.
Dr Marlia said Hee Lian was able to go through the procedure with ease as she had no medical complications and did not suffer from hypertension or diabetes.
"She was stable throughout the procedure and after the operation she recuperated well without any infection on the wound," she said. – Bernama