15-year-old’s shattered spine repaired

Doctors at KIMS Hospital have succeeded in repairing the shattered spine of a 15-year-old youngster who was involved in a road accident, the hospital said in a statement.

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Doctors at KIMS Hospital have succeeded in repairing the shattered spine of a 15-year-old youngster who was involved in a road accident, the hospital said in a statement. The hospital’s neurosurgery team, consisting of doctors Santhosh George Thomas, Biji Bahuleyan and Girish K M, performed an eight-hour-long surgery on Thameem by operating from both the front and back of his neck. Thameem had severely damaged his spine falling off the backseat of a motorcycle.

It has now been a month since the accident, and Thameem is now able to walk with support, doctors said. A large blood clot embedded with bone fragments that was compressing the spinal cord was removed through surgery. The cervical vertebrae were fixed with multiple screws, rods and bone grafts. Dr Santhosh George Thomas, neurosurgeon and spine surgeon, said, “ Survival and good recovery after an injury of this magnitude, requiring surgeries performed from both the front and the back of the neck is extremely rare. We all wish young people would keep these injuries in mind when they zoom around recklessly on their two-wheelers or play dangerous sports.”

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