Alternative to spinal op
PPDD: FIRST PERFORMED IN APRIL IN SA
‘There are risks’, says neurosurgeon to the oneday procedure done while the patient is wide awake.
The spinal procedure, performed in April for the first time in South Africa, is minimally invasive, and only requires local anaesthesia and usually allows the patient to go home the same day. Dr Avinash Kolloori is the first medical professional in the country to offer sufferers of slipped discs an alternative to open spinal surgery, reports Fourways Review.
Dr Kolloori, a specialist neurosurgeon at Life Fourways Hospital was invited to Seoul in South Korea by medical device company Vivid Surgicals last year to train in the technique, which is called a percutaneous plasma disc decompression (PPDD).
In April, he performed the procedure for the first time in South Africa.
A herniated, or slipped disc, happens when one of the connecting parts between the bones of the spine slips out of its proper position, causing pain. This can be corrected with open spinal surgery, but this is more stressful for the body and increases the chance of infection, and the recovery time is usually a few weeks.
Talking to Fourways Review, Dr Kolloori said: “During a PPDD, a specialised catheter is inserted into the [affected] disc in the patient’s neck or spine under X-ray guidance.
“The plasma tip of the catheter is heated to between 40°C and 70°C.”
The heat hardens the tissue in the disc, which aids in reducing pressure within the disc and allows for the withdrawal of the herniated disc fragment away from the nearby compromised nerve root, thus reducing or eliminating the pain which the patient is feeling.
Steph Acar from North Riding was one of the first patients to undergo the procedure after she suffered from a dehydrated disc, meaning that the gel-like fluid found in the disc had been lost, causing her pain and stiffness.
“It was a sharp, burning pain which would shoot down my leg, and I still don’t know how it was caused,” Acar said. “Dr Kolloori recommended the surgery, and so on April 20 I was one of the first five people to undergo the procedure.”
Acar was wide awake while Kolloori and a team of Korean surgeons completed the procedure to pinpoint the area of pain, but she estimates that she was in theatre for only 45 minutes and was able to walk out the hospital a few hours later.
Acar said she does pilates twice a week because it is important for her to maintain the health of her back.
Kolloori said there are risks with PPDD, as with any medical procedure, and that patients should not assume that they automatically qualify. – Caxton News Service