City doc performs rare surgery on spine, patient’s mobility starts fast

By Vikas Vaidya:

Recently a young lady named Kavita (name changed) from Nagpur met with a road accident; she sustained fracture of dorsal spine (comprised of twelve vertebrae and is the longest section of the spinal cord). She walked into Wockhardt hospital with complaints of severe back pain. Her case was handled by noted Neurosurgeon Dr Ajay Kurve. She was discharged within 96 hours from the hospital without any pain after successfully undergoing a surgery with Percutaneous technique at the hospital. This is for the first time that such type of procedure has been performed by any doctor in Central India.
Explaining about this case, Dr Kurve said, “She had spine fracture wherein her spine became unstable plus she has severe pain. Under medical line of management,  absolute bedrest for 2-3 months is advised. In such case, patient has very restricted mobility for six months after taking complete bedrest. Patients can  suffer from urinary tract infection, chest infection, Deep Vein Thromolysis, such side effects can be there. The vertebra may remain as it is and it leads to osteoporosis which is very common cause of chronic backache. Chronic pain has an satisfactory treatment and outcome.”
Dr Kurve said, “There is second option which is surgery- one is open and other is percutaneous. Open surgery has number of disadvantages- spinal fixation has to be given long incision which may lead to muscle dissection. Post operative pain is also there. Because of post operative pain, mobility reduced and patient is forced for bed rest. Chances of infection are too high, blood loss is also there. This too may lead to osteoporosis.”
Next option is percutaneous- passing rod and screws in vertebra. It attains spinal fixation and spinal stability. This technique is called percutaneous spinal fixation and  balloon kyphoplasty. “In this technique, we pass a balloon in the fractured vertebra, we inflate balloon and try to attain normal height. We instill a bony cement. Procedure-related pain is not there. Incision is small, so no blood loss, very less post operative pain, patients mobility starts fast. This patient started walking on third day of surgery without any discomfort or without any support. She will not have any trouble in her lifestyle in future,” pointed Dr Kurve.
Initially, Kavita was unable to lie straight due to severe pain and unable to sit and stand. An x-ray and MRI done at Wockhardt revealed a fracture (compression collapse) of dorsal spine with spinal instability. She needed to undergo key-hole spine surgery which aimed at not only achieving spinal stability but also treating collapsed vertebra so as to avoid chronic back pain in future.
Dr.Ajay Kurve, Neurosurgeon explained, “She underwent a surgery with percutaneous technique. Post surgery, she experienced less pain, she started sitting and walking within 3 days and was discharged on the fourth day. This was in contrary to open technique where patient remains bed ridden for couple of days & as a result mobilization & rehabilitation is delayed”.
Wockhardt Head Dr Sunil  Sahastrabudhe and Pankaj Vaishpayan, Head, Marketing of Wockhardt were also present.