Andhra Pradesh - Visakhapatnam

Surgery corrects spinal deformities

VISAKHAPATNAM: A city hospital has recently performed complex spine surgeries to correct deformities in the backbone of a five-year-old girl and a 34-year-old man.

The girl was facing problems due to congenital scoliosis, the man had kyphosis and both were rare occurrences. The complex spinal surgeries performed on them were first of their kind in the city, orthopaedic surgeon of Indus Hospitals B. Leela Prasad said at a press conference here on Tuesday. Both surgeries were performed under the Arogyasri health insurance scheme of State Government.

Suggu Tejaswani of Kancharam village in Rajam mandal of Vizianagaram district, had a progressively worsening spinal difficulty which was noticed when she was two years old. Her back was bent to one side and lead to respiratory problems, and the patient was not able to gain height. During the surgery, the faulty vertebra was removed and spinal chord was aligned with imported titanium screws. Her back is now almost straight.

In the case of K. Surendra Babu of Simhachalam, his backbone became stiff due to spondilitis and he was unable to look down or straight.

In this case, administering anaesthesia was a highly difficult and complicated process but the difficulty was overcome by devising one of the latest methods, Dr. Leela Prasad said. In this case also titanium screws were fixed to correct the deformity.

The scolosis surgery used to be a complicated one but latest techniques rendered it easy and less risky, he said.

The cost of operation would be Rs. 1. 25 lakhs to Rs. 1.75 lakhs.

Dr. J. Ramesh Babu of Hyderabad, Dr. Leela Prasad, Dr. M. Muralimohan and anaesthetists M. Kishore Babu and G. Atchyuta Rao were members of the team that performed the surgeries.

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