The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : She can walk now, thanks to lumbar disc replacement

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Sep 20, 2004

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

She can walk now, thanks to lumbar disc replacement

By Our Special Correspondent

CHENNAI, SEPT. 19. It may sound incredible but it is true. The 42 year-old Bangladeshi woman, Nazma Begum, who was brought to the outpatient spine clinic of the Apollo Hospitals here on September 4 by her husband, Mohamed Ali, started walking comfortably within 10 days of her undergoing `spinal arthroplasty.'

The feat of the team of Apollo doctors, claimed to have been achieved "for the first time in India", has enabled the multi-speciality corporate hospital to add a feather in its cap on the eve of its 22nd anniversary.

`Global standards'

Congratulating the team, Pratap C.Reddy, chairman, Apollo Hospitals Group, said, "revolutionary surgeries such as this prove that health care in the country is reaching global standards and we are ready to heal the world." People belonging to two categories of nations — Afro-Asian countries, which did not have adequate facilities; and nations devoid of human resource, despite their having infrastructure and expertise — needed India's assistance in health care.

Preetha Reddy, Managing Director, Apollo Hospitals, said such surgeries "helped us keep up with our mission of achieving a pioneering change in the healthcare sector and work towards a better and healthier tomorrow."

`A revolution in surgery'

Sajan K. Hegde, consultant spine surgeon, Apollo Hospitals, who performed the lumbar disc replacement surgery, said the patient was able to take a few pain-free steps for the first time in the last five years, that too hardly 24 hours after the surgery.

Mrs. Nazma is all set to lead a "normal life minus pain", he said. "It is only a few weeks from now for her to do daily namaaz without any difficulty."

Describing spinal arthroplasty as a revolution in spinal surgery, Dr. Hegde said the spinal disc replacement was first attempted 40 years ago. In the earlier treatment, spinal fusion surgery was performed. But this method had a number of limitations, as it caused stiffness and decreased motion of the spine and the transferred stress might cause new problems at other levels.

Mrs. Nazma had severe incapacitating low back pain for the past five years and she was almost bed-ridden for the last six months. Her X-ray showed a grossly reduced space between L5 vertebra and the sacrum. Her MRI of the lumbar spine showed a severely degenerated disc at L5-S1 level and compression of nerves in the area. She was admitted on September 6 and underwent surgery a couple of days later.

Dr. Hegde said the surgery was performed through a small vertical incision just below the umbilicus on the abdomen. The damaged disc was removed completely. Through a series of delicate steps, the space for the artificial disc was prepared and the correct sized one was inserted between L5 and the sacrum and the position was checked with the image intensifier. Composite disc, the most widely implanted one, was used in this case also in view of its best biocompatible nature. The entire process was completed within two hours. It might have cost Rs. 1.25 lakhs to the patient, he said.

Other members of the medical team, P. Suryanarayanan and V. Ravi also threw light on the common problem of back pain and its treatment.

Mr. Mohamed Ali, a businessman in Dhaka, said lack of facilities in his country came in the way of providing proper treatment to her.

Fortunately, his friend informed him recently that the facility and expertise was available at the Apollo Hospitals. Without losing time, he brought her to Chennai, Mr. Mohamed Ali said, thanking the doctors who performed the surgery.

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