Dr. Ilangovan Arunkumar is a Consultant orthopaedic surgeon with special interest in Arthroscopy and Arthroplasty surgery. He graduated from the prestigious Madras Medical College in the year 1995, and thereafter successfully completed his Postgraduate Diploma in Orthopaedics at Stanley Medical College, Chennai. His passion to seek further surgical training in Orthopaedics made him work at various centres in UK. His commitment towards training and work brought him several qualifications that include FRCS (Trauma & Orthopaedics) from Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh (October 2010), MCh Orthopaedics (University of Liverpool, June 2007), and MRCS (Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh, September 2000). Dr. Arunkumar spent 10 years working as an orthopaedic specialist at Royal Cornwall Hospital in Truro and this enhanced his surgical skills and super-speciality training. His passion towards Arthroscopy and Arthroplasty surgery were fine-tuned during this time and he is now an expert surgeon. Dr. Arunkumar returned back to India in 2011, as a consultant orthopaedic surgeon at Apollo Hospitals. Recently, he has started his own Arthroscopy & Arthroplasty unit at Chennai, called Medway Medical Centre. Dr. Arunkumar has a special interest in Knee Replacement and Arthroscopy (keyhole surgery), and is well versed with Shoulder Arthroscopy and Arthroplasty procedures. Dr. Arunkumar recognises the obligation to teach others and is committed to teach the training doctors. He has developed good teaching skills, during his training period and has taught medical students, as well as nursing students, at various levels. He has conducted bedside teaching, small group discussions, and OSKE exams for the medical students. He has also supervised SHOs and junior registrars in theatres and has taught them the principles of internal fixation for fractures. Currently, he works as a visiting consultant at Arupadi Veedu Medical College at Pondicherry, were he interacts with orthopaedic trainees and interns. Dr. Arunkumar was involved in numerous research studies. Some of his research pursuits include: Looking into the results of Medial Patellofemoral Ligament Reconstruction using hamstring graft for Chronic Patellar Instability patients. The follow-up period was 20 months and the results indicated good improvement in the symptoms, and patient satisfaction was high. Dr. Arunkumar presented the results at the SWOC meeting and did a poster presentation at the BASK Meeting in 2008. Dr. Arunkumar has reviewed the infection rate in the Vanguard Theatres. The results did not show any significant increase risk in the Vanguard Theatres. The results were then presented in the Audit meeting at RCHT. Dr. Arunkumar did a prospective study, looking into the results and complications following decortication technique for long bone non-unions and mal-unions. Reviewing the mid-term results, he found a high complication rate for the treatment of Tibial Non-unions. Overall, the healing rate of the fracture was over 95%. Dr. Arunkumar did a retrospective study looking at the results of supracondylar nail fixation for distal femur fractures. He reviewed the incidence, types of fracture, and complications of retrograde supracondylar femoral nailing system and found that a fracture-healing rate of nearly 89%, which was in accordance with the national standards. Therefore, he concluded that retrograde supracondylar nailing is a satisfactory method of stabilising distal femoral fractures in elderly patients. In another study, Dr. Arunkumar did a retrospective review of complications following K-wire fixation for distal radius fractures. The results showed a 25% pin tract infection rate. This has influenced Dr. Arunkumar to bury the K-wires, following stabilisation of distal radius fractures. In Dr. Arunkumar’s previous job, he audited the significance of Flexible Sigmoidoscopy in lower GI symptoms and found that they were useful tool in case of lower bowel symptoms. This was published as an article in the Postgraduate Medical Journal. Dr. Arunkumar has published numerous peer-reviewed publications and has presented them at a number of medical conferences. Recently, he has co-ordinated several patient information leaflets at Apollo Hospitals, regarding common orthopaedic problems.

Dr. Arunkumar Ilangovan reviews and composes orthopaedic articles for DoveMed.

Dr. Arunkumar has a life-long passion for teaching and education. He realizes the need for patient education. As a surgeon, he feels that patients who understand the benefits and risks of surgical procedures are able to make better and informed decisions. A portal like DoveMed helps in filling that information gap.