Word: motala
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...Motala had her foot blown off by a land mine; Fuji lost most of her tail to a mysterious disease; Stumpy crippled her leg in an unknown injury in the wild. Only a few years ago, a wounded elephant, dolphin and kangaroo like these would not have had much hope. Under the rough rules of the wild, they would have quickly died of predation, infection or starvation. Compassionate humans who intervened might have been able to make the animals more comfortable but never could have made them whole...
...When Motala the elephant stepped on a land mine eight years ago in Thailand, her prospects were bleak. Veterinarians were forced to amputate what was left of her mangled foot and part of her leg. The operation saved her life but left her hobbling around on only three legs for the better part of six years. Finally, in 2005 surgeons at the Friends of the Asian Elephant Hospital in Lampang, Thailand, designed a 22-lb. (10 kg) shoelike prosthetic foot that is little more than a canvas sack filled with sawdust and held in place by a giant sling...
...doubts," says caretaker Soraida Salwala, founder of the hospital. "I had heard of prosthetics for birds and dogs, but nothing had ever been made for an elephant." So well has Motala adjusted to her new foot, however, that doctors are already designing a lighter, sturdier replacement for her made of fiberglass and silicone...
...Motala may be better off than she was, but even an upgraded foot won't help her walk like a normal elephant. So cases like hers have inspired surgeons to begin experimenting with some radical new approaches that could potentially transform the field of prosthetics. One method is known as ingrowth, or osseointegration, a technique that skips the sleeves and cuffs altogether and attaches the prosthesis directly to the bone. "It is one of the hottest ideas in the field," says Dr. Denis Marcellin-Little, associate professor of orthopedics at North Carolina State University, who tried the surgery (unsuccessfully...
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