Mumbai surgeons perform rare spinal surgery on 82-year old
28 May 2015
Global Hospitals Mumbai has achieved a rare feat in spinal surgery with a team of doctors, performing minimal access spine surgery on an 82-year-old Ankylosing Spondylitis (Bamboo Spine) patient. The surgery involved implanting 14 screws in the spinal cord.
Ankylosing Spondylitis, commonly known as Bamboo Spine is a form of rheumatic arthritis associated with long-term inflammation of the joints in the spine.
Some of the symptoms are pain and stiffness from the neck down to the lower back.
The bones of the spine (vertebrae) might grow or fuse together, resulting in a rigid spine and at times when the changes were severe, it might lead to a stooped-over posture.
The patient had had a fall in November 2014 following which he had been constantly complaining of excruciating back pain. He became totally bed ridden in 2015 and was paralysed in the legs.
After he was admitted to Global Hospitals in first week of March, investigations on him revealed he had developed three Andersson Leisons (AL), a known complication in patients with Ankylosing Spondylitis.
After a careful consideration of all the options, Dr Vishal Peshattiwar decided the only option was to perform surgery on the patient. The surgery was all the more challenging given other complications he had including fluid in both his lungs commonly known as pleural effusion.
According to Peshatiwar that there was no chance of performing the traditional open surgery as the area to be operated upon had to be opened with a long incision to allow the surgeon to view and access the anatomy. This would cause loss of blood and reducing the chances of survival after the surgery would have escalated.
According to Peshattiwar, the team then decided to conduct a minimally invasive surgery. He added, a minimally invasive spine surgery did not involve a long incision, it avoided significant damage to the muscles surrounding the spine and resulted in less pain after surgery and a faster recovery.
Peshattiwar added, it was gratifying to see him go home walking. He had recovered well and now had started performing all his daily chores by himself.
