Patient with severe back deformity operated at Jaipur hospital

Doctors at a city hospital, while performing a complex surgery of spinal cord treated a patient with severe deformity of the back. Raman (name changed), a resident of Ajmer, was only 12 years old when his body started bending and became like a bow over the years. 

For the past nine years, he could neither see the front nor walk straight and could not lay in bed. HCG Hospital doctors have had success in fixing this serious and rare case of this complex disease of the spine called Ankylosing spondylitis.

“It was a very rare and complex case. Such cases of severe kyphosis appear in one in 100,000 patients. It was a challenging and risky operation, in which we straightened the spine preserving the nerves and fixed it with screws & rods,” Dr Pravin Gupta, spine surgeon at HCG Hospital, said. “Patients of Ankylosing spondylitis disease are fairly common (around 1 in 100) but such a severe deformity affecting activities of daily living is quite rare (1 in 1 lac). In the state, it can be called the first case of its kind,” said Dr Pravin.

As per doctors, Ankylosing spondylitis is an autoimmune inflammatory disease and often comes at the age of 20-30 years, but in this case, the symptoms started at the age of 12 as there was positive family history. The patient’s life became hell as his body was completely crooked all the time. He could not stand or walk straight. It was also difficult for him to even sleep. Making his condition more severe, the acute pain became permanent at his hip joints also. “We took this case as a challenge and with advice from our orthopedic team, it was decided to go for a surgical procedure with Pedicle Subtraction Osteotomy and fixation process. After about 10 hours long surgery, we successfully cut the spinal cord and fixed the deformity of the back,” said Dr Pravin. 

Doctors told that if the patient was not treated in such a severe condition, then he can develop paralysis, the joint of the knee and hip would have been completely damaged, there can be breathing problem due to severe kyphosis, and problems with digestive problems.

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As per doctors, Ankylosing spondylitis is an autoimmune inflammatory disease and often comes at the age of 20-30 years, but in this case, the symptoms started at the age of 12 as there was positive family history. The patient’s life became hell as his body was completely crooked all the time. He could not stand or walk straight. It was also difficult for him to even sleep. Making his condition more severe, the acute pain became permanent at his hip joints also. “We took this case as a challenge and with advice from our orthopedic team, it was decided to go for a surgical procedure with Pedicle Subtraction Osteotomy and fixation process. After about 10 hours long surgery, we successfully cut the spinal cord and fixed the deformity of the back,” said Dr Pravin.

Source : DNA, 21 Nov 2018