Doctors at the Indian Spinal Injuries Centre (ISIC) have successfully operated on a 21-month-old boy suffering from kyphosis or spinal cord deformity.
kyphotic deformity is excessive outside curvature of the spine which causes hunching of the back. Gururaj Sangondimath, consultant, spine surgery, ISIC, said: “The child was in a painful condition and suffering from tuberculosis of the spine with kyphotic deformity.”
“An MRI revealed destruction of the backbone 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.”
Kyphotic curve
Generally, the upper back spine is curved outward to a certain degree, which in medical terms is called kyphosis or the “kyphotic” curve. This causes the spine to bend forward. The normal curvature of the neck and lower back bends the spine inward.
Challenging surgery
These outward and inward curves of the spine help it bear the load of a person with less energy consumption. Abnormal curvature is known as kyphotic deformity.
In this case, the boy had a curvature of 110 degrees against the normal curvature of 40 to 45 degrees.
“Considering the age of the child, performing a surgery for deformity correction was highly challenging for the team. At this age, children are very sensitive when it comes to blood loss. The team successfully conducted the surgery without any significant blood loss.
There were other challenges like monitoring the patient’s functional integrity during the surgery using neuro-monitoring methods. Additionally, there were anesthetic challenges.
It was probably also for the first time in India that pedicle screws were inserted in a patient of this age,” said Dr. H.S. Chhabra, medical director and chief of spine services, ISIC.
