A 54-year-old man from Tiruchi underwent a successful spinal surgery at Apollo Hospitals. The patient, who had suffered a polio attack when he was a child, had complained of pain in his limbs and doctors at the hospital ascertained that it was due to compression of nerves in the spinal cord.
Mr. Elangovan, from Manikandam had visited the Apollo Hospitals, Tiruchi, in November complaining of pain in the shoulders, and his right leg. He had been dependent on the right leg after he suffered a polio attack as a three-year-old child. The patient was unable to walk when he visited the hospital.
Mayilan Chinnappan and Kevin Joseph, neurosurgeons at the hospital, diagnosed the patient of cervical compressive myelopathy. “The nerves were being compressed due to wear and tear of the spinal cord and had caused pain. It had also led to him losing urinary sensation and he was forced to use a catheter,” Dr. Joseph said. “The compression could happen anywhere. If the nerve to the diaphragm is compressed, the patient will suffer from breathing difficulty,” he added.
A surgical procedure involving the removal of two cervical vertebral bones, drilling out the thickened and calcified ligament which was compressing the cord and stabilising the spinal segments with cage and screw implants was conducted.
