NEW DELHI: A one-and-half-year old child, suffering from spinal deformity due to tuberculosis in
his spine, was successfully treated at the Indian Spinal Injuries Centre. This is the first known surgery in India wherein such a complex procedure was carried out on an infant and screws were used to fix the deformity, and reduced the deformity from 110 degrees to 40 degrees.
The disease had caused Samay’s spine to bent to 110 degrees, while he was also diagnosed with paraparesis and weak limbs. According to the doctors at ISIC, the child when brought to the hospital was in severe pain and unable to move his lower limbs during this phase and progressively, lost the ability to walk.
“We conducted an MRI that revealed destruction of backbones due to tuberculosis which led to severe deformity and spinal cord compression leading to weakness in the legs, and the finding was confirmed with an X-Ray too,” said Dr Gururaj Sangondimath, Consultant, Spine Surgery, Indian Spinal Injuries Centre.
“The surgery was challenging on all counts – such a major surgery usually requires anaesthesia for long hours and will require insertion of pedicle screws,” Sangondimath said. The other major challenges were neuro-monitoring of the child and the fact that any major blood loss may prove fatal. Even if all the aspects of surgery were under control, managing such a young child after the operation and adhering to post-operative measures posed a major challenge, he added. The surgery lasted for four hours and the child has been discharged from hospital.