Chennai: “Spina bifida, a congenital defect where the infant’s spinal cord fails to develop properly and neural tube defects occur one in 1,000 live births and these unfortunate children have miserable life due to leg weakness and loss of bladder and bowl control, which, in later life can lead to kidney failure and death,” said Gleneagles Global Health City neuro sciences head, Dr Dinesh Nayak.
He was speaking during a meet convened to discuss surgical procedure for lipomyelomeningocele, a condition that affects the backbone, which was performed on a 12-year-old boy from Kanchipuram.
A press release said, “The child was brought with a swelling on the lower back and spinal deformity, causing progressive posture abnormalities which had developed since a very young age. The right leg of the boy was weak, had issues with bladder, developed pressure sores on right foot due to lack of sensation and had an obvious spinal deformity due to scoliosis. Spinal X-rays and CT scans of the boy revealed that his spine was badly twisted and deformed.”
The doctors conducted a 11-hour surgery to treat his condition.
Speaking about the surgery, senior consultant neuro surgeon, Dr Nigel Peter, and senior consultant spine surgeon, Dr Phani Kiran, said they performed the procedure in two phases in a single stage to avoid second surgery, given the advantages of less blood loss, faster recovery, less risk of infection and wound healing problems.
Following the surgery, the boy was shifted to the neuro ICU and was closely monitored by a specialised team. He was made to sit up and walk on the second day after the surgery.
The vital parameters remained stable. He had no worsening of his already existing weakness of the right leg. He was transferred to the ward on the third post-operative day and discharged home on the seventh day after surgery.
He was able to walk independently at the time of discharge and is currently undergoing rehabilitation, bladder training and physiotherapy to strengthen his lower limbs.