Pune: Girl suffering from scoliosis undergoes back-correcting surgery

This picture has been used for representational purposes.

Pune: A cosmetic back deformity surgery was successfully conducted on a 14-year-old girl from Satara at a city-based government hospital. The child and her parents had been looking for a treatment for scoliosis in many hospitals over the past few years.

As the treatment was a complicated procedure, it required a tertiary care centre with highly-skilled speciality surgeons, nurses and paramedical staff, of which her family could not bear. They were told that it will cost up to Rs 5-6 lakhs in a private hospital. Furthermore, she had a deformity of around 50 degrees in her upper back and 60 degrees in her lower back, making the procedure even more difficult.

Scoliosis is a cosmetically and functionally debilitating disorder, which causes deformity of the back leading to distorted spine, and can lead to heart problems, breathing problems and loss of muscle strength in legs, if not corrected.

The child and her parents approached the Orthopedics OPD in Sassoon General Hospital in Pune in June 2019, where she consulted Dr Ambarish A Mathesul, an orthopaedic spine surgeon trained for deformity of spine correction in the US and UK. The doctor suggested surgical treatment and further investigations. Over the next couple of months, a detailed preoperative evaluation was done, in order to avoid any complications that might arise during the operation.

Also Read: Mumbai: Tumour behind eye measuring 1.5 cm removed through nose in Kurla hospital

The operation was conducted on October 5, under the guidance of Dean and Senior Spine Surgeon, Dr Ajay S Chandanwale. During the surgery, 24 screws were used to straighten the spine and advanced equipment like neuro-monitoring was used so as to prevent any damage to the spinal cord and the nerves. The procedure lasted for 4 hours and measures were taken to reduce the blood loss to a minimum. Thus the surgery was a success, and the patient is recovering well postoperatively.

The surgical team consisted of spine surgeons Dr Ajay Chandanwale and Dr Mathesul, and was assisted by Dr Rahul Puranik, Dr Sushant Ghumare, Dr Nitin Dawre and Dr Rupesh Kadam from the department of Orthopaedics, Scrub nurse Mrs Radha and OT Assistant Deepak. Expert team of anaesthesiologists headed by Dr Yogesh Gavali and Dr Naik and their team of Dr Suraj, Dr Rohit Sancheti successfully administered the anaesthesia.

Dr Mathesul said, "Such kind of back deformities called Kyphoscoliosis usually appear at the age 5 to 15 years and are most common in girls. If left untreated and undiagnosed, they cause the unappealing appearance of the back, stunted height and may also lead to loss of muscle strength of both legs. The ideal age for treatment of these patients is between 10 to 15 years."

Dr Chandanwale said that treatment of such complicated surgery as well as other complicated spine surgery facilities is available at Sassoon Hospital. Under his guidance, the hospital has been able to provide an expert team of spine surgeons, facilities and equipment. Whereas in private hospitals, these surgeries are said to cost anywhere between Rs 5 to 6 lakhs, the Hospital was able to do it at a very cheap cost with the help of Mahatma Jyotirao Phule Jan Arogya Yojana (MJPJAY) scheme and Medical Social Welfare department. Dr Chandanwale added that entire Maharashtra should take benefit of these facilities.

Catch up on all the latest Crime, National, International and Hatke news here. Also download the new mid-day Android and iOS apps to get latest updates