In June 2005, I had my left hip resurfaced by Dr. Pispati at the Jaslok Hospital in Mumbai. My experience was very positive and I am happy to recommend Dr. Pispati to anyone considering resurfacing. Jaslok Hospitals medical facilities on the 16th floor, where foreign patients go, are excellent.

I was scheduled for a total left hip replacement in California, where I live, on June 14, 2005. I planned to have this done despite being made aware by friends who had had the operation that the recovery from this operation is quite lengthy and demanding. Also, because of my insurance plan the surgery would have been free. I was 73, so I move in circles where hip problems are not uncommon. However, before that I became aware of the alternative, hip resurfacing, This surgery has recently become available in the U.S. but, because its new, few surgeons are trained to do it and it's very expensive if you don't have insurance.

When I became aware that the surgery is more readily available in India and is done by surgeons with considerable experience in the operation I decided to investigate that avenue, being helped in my search by my experience as a former NASA research scientist. I contacted a number of surgeons who do the operation in India and carefully examined their qualifications and experience. It was easy to make a selection. Dr. Pispati learned the resurfacing procedure from the inventor in England, was a pioneer in Asia in performing the operation, has done hundreds of hip resurfacings, has lectured on the subject to numerous other doctors, including doctors from the U.S., and has many high academic qualifications from several countries. For example, he is a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons in England, a very high honor as I know, since I was born there. He was also very responsive to my questions in our initial e-mail exchanges.

I therefore traveled to Mumbai with my wife and had my hip resurfaced on June 8, 2005, flying home two weeks later. Everyone here, especially friends who have had the total hip replacement, has been amazed at my progress. My wife and I get much of our exercise from dancing and I began to take this up again after three weeks. I paced myself and was careful how I moved, but I could do it, gradually improving. I did the exercises given to me by the physical therapists at Jaslok. I was able to walk a couple of days after the surgery with a walker and later with a cane, but both of these I discarded after a little over a week, being able to walk unaided. I did use a cane on the flight home and also a wheelchair.

Coming back, I requested a wheelchair at the airports through my travel agent to avoid long lines and waiting. I could have managed without, but it is easier with a wheelchair and you bypass all the lines. Dr. Pispati will give you a letter when you leave that allows you to get a wheelchair, but you need to request one when you book your ticket. You can make arrangements to be picked up at the airport and returned there.
I would note two aspects of the care I received at Jaslok. One is the high degree of professionalism by the staff, starting with Dr. Pispati and on down through his colleagues, other doctors, the nursing staff, and in fact all the staff. My primary goal in going to Mumbai was to get first class surgery done by a top surgeon; in both respects I met my goals. The second aspect is more intangible, but was very important to me; it was the caring attitude of the staff, especially of Dr. Pispati. Having all my questions and concerns answered was very important to me as a foreigner in a different land.
My wife was an observer of all this, since she shared my room. We both agree that Dr. Pispati is the best doctor we have ever met. I would strongly recommend him to anyone considering hip resurfacing, or any of the several other surgeries in which he is an expert.
- Mr Gordon Deboo (San Francisco, USA)

I want to thank you for sending me to Dr. Pispati. It is unbelievable how attentive and talented that man is. He really is a superb surgeon and also so very personable and likeable. He really does care about his patients and his follow up attention is unbelievable. I was awake during my operation after being anesthetized from the waist down and can tell you that every precaution imaginable was taken to prevent infection. All of my friends and relatives can't believe how fast I have recovered from surgery. Since I feel so good, I have to keep reminding myself to be careful and wait until things heal before I do certain activities.

I recovered faster than most people with similar operations and I believe it was because of the really good follow up care and of course Dr. Pispati. Two days after my operation Dr. Pispati went to Thailand to teach some orthopedic surgeons about hip resurfacing and still had time to call me in my hospital room to check on me twice a day for three days and upon returning to Mumbai he went straight to the hospital first to check on his patients. He tells you exactly what he is thinking and doesn't hide any thing from his patients.

The service and attention at the hospital was excellent and the physiotherapists were great. Most of the hospital staff spoke English and were very friendly and attentive. The hospital rooms are spacious with about fifteen TV stations in English and two English language newspapers delivered daily. Two physical therapists came to my room each day which would have been difficult for them if I had been in a hotel. Dr. Pispati and his intern assistants were unbelievably attentive, polite, proficient and any other superlative that I can think of. They thought of everything and anticipated my every need. I experienced no pain the whole time at the hospital and nothing but a good time.

I really am glad that you found Dr. Pispati for me. I believe that he might just be the best knee and hip surgeon in the world. Well, I can't see how any surgeon could be better. I got a chance to visit a lot with three other American patients on my hospital floor and can tell you that they felt the same way about Dr. Pispati.
- Mr Bradley Thayer (Canada)

It is my pleasure to confirm my complete satisfaction with the two excellent surgeries I had under the care of Doctor Ameet Pispati, Orthopedic Surgeon at Jaslok Hospital in Mumbai, India. My experiences with Doctor Pispati, before and after surgery, have been positive, informative and genuine. In 2006, I had two surgical procedures with Doctor Pispati. In April, my Right hip had the Articular Surface Resurfacing (ASR) commonly known as Hip Resurfacing. I returned to Mumbai in December 2006 to have a Computer Assisted Surgery (CAS) Total Knee Replacement on my Left knee. I would recommend Doctor Pispati to anyone with an orthopedic disorder without reservation. I feel he is one of the top orthopedic surgeons in the world.

My hip problem started in 1996 with a slight intermittent twinge in my right hip. In 1998, the intermittent twinge had become a regular discomfort that was diagnosed by my rheumatologist as arthritic deterioration of the cartilage in the right hip. The prognosis was that I would need a Total Hip Replacement (THR) within a few years. My doctor in Santa Cruz, California told me to go as long as I could before I had the THR because it would change my life and limit my mobility. The news was a blow to me. I was athletic with basketball, jogging and my passion of horseback riding. The doctor told me that basketball and jogging would definitely be out. He said horseback riding might be possible occasionally.

Moving forward to 2005, I was finally at a point where my world had shrunk immensely in terms of my ability to get around. I was nearly ready to have my surgery as per my Santa Cruz doctor's advice to go as long as you can before having the surgery. (I have since learned that waiting is not a good idea for the ASR procedure to have the best chance of full success.) As luck would have it, I was watching the 60 Minutes television program one Sunday evening when the now famous show about medical tourism came on. The segment showed a woman from Florida who went to Chennai, India to have a procedure to repair a deteriorating hip joint that was not a THR and did not entail cutting the femur. It was the Hip Resurfacing procedure. That was the surgery that I had been searching to find. The procedure is being done in the US, but I discovered that surgeons who have been trained for years in Birmingham, UK are the best ones in the world to do this procedure.

Less than a year later, I sent my hip X-ray to a Dr Bose in Chennai to review to see if I were a candidate for Hip Resurfacing. He studied my x rays and responded curtly by email that I was not a candidate for Hip Resurfacing. The Chennai doctor said that I should pursue the course of THR. The news was very disappointing and depressing. Nevertheless, I continued my search for other doctors who may be doing the procedure. I researched the history of Hip Resurfacing and found that the concept was not really new, but had evolved and changed with the development of new materials and metallurgies. I also found that there were a few talented doctors who would approach cases with bone cysts or other possible complications with the provisons that the THR would be the fallback in case the Hip Resurfacing was not feasible.

One such doctor was Doctor Ameet Pispati, who has gained a reputation in the Hip Resurfacing and International Orthopedic community as someone to call on in complicated cases where a wealth of experience and skill in the surgery room would be a prudent idea. Doctor Pispati studied the procedure in England under the developers since the early nineties. I emailed Doctor Pispati about a week after I received what I thought was bad news from Chennai. Of course, I did not know that the negative response I received from Chennai was going to lead me to one of the top orthopedic surgeons in the world in Mumbai. Doctor Pispati rapidly responded to my email query. He answered all of my questions and sent along his resume of experience. I was duly impressed, elated and renovated in my desire to get my hip repaired without cutting the bone.

Arrangements were made and I flew to Mumbai from California in mid April of 2006. I met Doctor Pispati the day I arrived. He called around 8:30 AM to greet me, give me a game plan for the day of medical test in preparation for the operation the next day and let me know that he would stop by around 10:00 AM. Everything he said he would do he did and the day went like clockwork. He called three times and came by twice on a day when he did several surgeries. He came by to evaluate my X-rays that were taken earlier that day. He said there was only a one or two percent chance of not being able to do the Hip Resurfacing. That information reassured me about my surgery.

The following day I was operated on as scheduled. After the surgery, while in recovery, Doctor Pispati woke me to show me the X-ray of my new metal on metal Hip Resurfacing implants from the Johnson Johnson Company, Depuy. This high level of patient care by a doctor is very rare in the West.

The day after the surgery I was walking with a walker. The following week I walked up and down a flight of stairs with a cane. A week later I was out of the hospital and in a hotel in Mumbai preparing to take a tour of the southern state of Kerala and later the Taj Mahal in the north. Doctor Pispati gave me his cell phone number and told me to call him if there were any problem or question that I needed answered. We also kept in touch by email throughout my stay in India.

My resurfaced hip now feels virtually normal and I am able to do all the activities that I want.

When I first arrived for my hip surgery in April I also had X-rays taken of my Left knee. Doctor Pispati viewed the X-rays and felt a Total Knee Replacement (TKR) would be necessary. I was so satisfied and content with the complete experience with Doctor Pispati for my hip surgery that before checking out of Jaslok Hospital I asked him if he would do the TKR on my knee. He said he would do the surgery when I was ready.
Before returning to Mumbai in December I already knew I had a world class surgeon to fix my knee. When I arrived Doctor Pispati told me that he added a new technology to his tool chest to provide an even higher level of accuracy to his surgeries. Only few surgeons in the world have access to this fantastic technology called Computer-assisted Surgery or Computer Navigated Surgery. I am aware, as are many, that medicine is not an exact science.

Medicine, especially orthopedic surgery, is a mixture of science, art, skill and experience leading the judgment of the doctor on how to proceed. The more solid science you can bring into the mixture the more information you can present to the doctor the better judgment he can make. This is the case with CAS. The CAS computer gives an array of real time information to the doctor during surgery, such as the patients bone size, detailed bone shape, possible bone cut positions, angles, tension in the ligaments as well as, recommendations for implant sizes. This type of information is invaluable when relayed during surgery because it saves time, provides an ongoing second opinion which the surgeon can glean information to assist with the choices made for a more accurate and successful outcome. Essentially, the CAS surgery maximizes the science and minimizes the art during the actual surgical procedure.

For my Total Knee Replacement surgery, I was assured of having the best surgery that I could get anywhere in the world. I received the same high quality of care at Jaslok Hospital and the surgery was a complete success. Less than 24 hours after my surgery I changed to a larger room and walked, aided by a walker, over sixty feet. Within two days I was walking with only a cane. Four days after surgery I walked up and down the full hallway and a flight of stairs with the cane. One week after arriving in Mumbai, I walked out Jaslok Hospital with a new more flexible knee. I feel that the success of my surgery was due to Doctor Pispati and his use of the new Computer Assisted Surgery technology.

Dr Ameet Pispati now does Computer-assisted surgery for all his Hip and Knee surgery patients. Having done a lot of research on this, I have realized that CAS enables faster recovery, lesser blood loss and ensure precise positioning of the implants, thus enabling Hip and Knee prosthesis to last longer!

Doctor Pispati is a gifted surgeon not only for his definitive skill, attention to detail and ongoing research, but, also for his desire to seek out and stay on the cutting edge of new technologies in the field of orthopedic surgery. For the reasons outlined here I, without reservation, recommend Doctor Ameet Pispati to anyone for orthopedic surgical procedures or consultancy on such procedures.
- Mr. E. L. Perriatt (Santa Cruz, California, USA)