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China doc rewires nerves to cure bladder disorder

Twenty-year-old Chaitrali Gavkar has few friends or acquaintances.

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Twenty-year-old Chaitrali Gavkar has few friends or acquaintances. She was born with spina bifida — a disorder in which the spinal cord does not develop completely — due to which she has no control over her bladder, and thus keeps continually passing urine. But, on Monday, after she underwent a ‘nerve re-routing’ surgery, performed in India for the first time, there are good chances she might soon have some. 

“Being a girl, it was very traumatic for her to cope with the continuous urine loss. She could not interact with people, and couldn’t make any friends due to this disorder,” said Gavkar’s mother Vasanti after the surgery, which was performed at Kokilaben Hospital in Lokhandwala.

The severity of the handicap can be gauged from the fact that, until Class six, Gavkar had to attend a school for physically challenged students. “By then she had learnt to use a urinary catheter, a tiny tube which is placed in the bladder to remove the urine. This kept her dry for two hours,” said Vasanti, a resident of Worli Koliwada and a neighbour of the Gavkars since many years.

After bearing with the problem for over 20 years, Gavkar’s life took a turn for the better when Dr Amrish Vaidya, a paediatric surgeon from Kokilaben Hospital who was treating her, learnt about the Xiao technique, which is being used to treat patients with similar problems in China and the US. “We then decided to get Dr Chuan-Gua Xiao from China, who invented this technique, to perform a few surgeries here, and to also train us in performing it on other patients,” said Vaidya.

While Gavkar’s is the first and the only such surgery to be performed in the country so far, at least nine other patients are in queue. “Xiao will be with us for another week for these surgeries,” added Vaidya.

The Xiao techinque involves ‘nerve rewiring’, or nerve re-routing’, in which the sensory nerves from the thigh are connected to the urinary bladder. After the surgery, a patient can initiate a urine flow by scratching or tapping the thigh.

“Several children gradually develop the understanding, and begin passing urine on their own. However, not all patients develop the skill and need someone’s help,” said Dr Xiao, adding that the new nerve connection may take six month to two years to become functional. According to Dr Xiao, there has been 80% success rate in the 1,500 surgeries he has performed so far. 

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