Minimally invasive surgery technique helped 25-year-old to walk within 2 days of fracture.
After a minor fall from a height of less than 8 feet, 25-year-old business analyst Yogesh Naik (name changed) realised that he was in deep trouble.
But he was back on his feet within two days of the fall that cracked his spine, thanks to the minimally invasive spine surgery (MISS) technique.
At Aditya Birla Memorial Hospital’s (ABMH) emergency department where Naik was admitted by his friends, he realised that he had suffered a severe spinal fracture.
“The fragments of bone were pressing the nerves and he was in immense pain and at risk of paralysis,” said spine surgeon Dr Amol Rege.
Realising that traditional spine surgery involved opening of spine and greater complications like blood loss, post-operative pain, Rege used the minimally invasive spine surgery technique.
“Unlike the traditional approach of making large incisions to get to the spinal column, we inserted titanium screws and rods through small cuts made precisely into the vertebrae. The titanium screws are connected by arc-shaped rods through sophisticated screw extenders. This instrumentation creates an internal cast to support the spinal structure,” said Rege.
In this method, stress is redirected uniformly along the spine during the healing and fusion process. According to Rege, the advantages of this technique over traditional open surgery are no large scars on the back, only smaller incisions (slits), shorter stay at hospital, reduced post-operative pain, less blood loss, shorter recovery time and reduced risk of infection.
“This technique is useful in spine fractures, degenerative disc conditions, spinal fusion and spondylolysis wherein there is slippage of one vertebra over other, resulting in back and leg pain,” said Rege.
Naik, who is recovering in his hometown Hyderabad, is looking forward to coming back to work in Pune. The only hitch is that for two months he cannot bend or sit on the floor, to speed up the healing process.
“Two months of restricted movement is a small price to pay for a lifetime of comfort. I couldn’t believe my luck that I was able to walk within two days of cracking my spine,” he said.
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