21-month-child operated upon successfully for spinal disorder

Twenty-onemonth-old boy got a new lease of life after the successful operation of Kyphotic deformity (spinal disorder). The child was suffering from a spinal cord deformity, hunching of back. The boy was unable to stand or walk and was in severe pain when he was admitted to Indian Spinal Injury center.

Explaining more about the case, Dr Gururaj Sangondimath said; “The child was indeed in a painful condition, and was suffering from tuberculosis of spine with kyphotic deformity. We conducted MRI, which revealed that there was destruction of back bones due to tuberculosis, which caused severe deformity and spinal cord compression leading to weakness in the legs. This was a highly challenging case of kyphosis, especially due to the age of the patient. It is for the first time in India that such a young child has successfully undergone a spinal deformity correction.”

According to consultant, “It took a 4-hour-long surgery to correct the deformity of spine. The surgery was successful as the deformity was corrected by reducing the curvature to 40 degrees from 110 degrees. After a satisfying final evaluation, the boy was discharged in the company of his overjoyed family members.

“At this age, children are very sensitive for blood loss. The team successfully conducted the surgery without significant blood loss. There were challenges for monitoring the patient's functional integrity during the surgery using neuromonitoring methods,” said Dr H S Chhabra, Medical Director, Indian Spinal Injuries Centre.