The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh / Hyderabad News : Sajid can smile, at last

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Oct 26, 2005

Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh - Hyderabad

Sajid can smile, at last

Staff Reporter

BEFORE AND AFTER: Sajid looks jubilant after the rare surgery. - Photo: Mohd. Yousuf

HYDERABAD: Sajid can smile now. A thing which he could never do a year ago. A complicated surgical intervention has helped extract and reconstruct his tumour-filled jaws and make them normal.

This has transformed his life. After three surgical interventions, the seven-year-old boy is now able to eat, drink and breathe though he doesn't have teeth.

Life-threatening

Sajid suffered from `Fibrous Dysplasia', not a rare condition, but certainly life-threatening in his case due to the sheer size of the tumours that developed on both his jaws.

Sajid underwent three surgeries in last eight months conducted by a team headed by chief of Plastic Surgery in Nizam Institute of Medical Sciences (NIMS) D. Mukund Reddy to get the tumours weighing 500 gm from the lower jaw and another 900 gm one from the upper jaw removed.

The team of surgeons consisting of R. Srikant, Ram Babu and Murli Mohan Reddy had to insert a pipe into his trachea enabling him to breathe during the operations, each of which lasted from five to eight hours.

Rare surgery

It was not only the removal of the tumours but also reconstruction of jaws using bone (fibula) taken from his legs. "This is the first of its kind jaw reconstruction surgery in the country," claims Dr. Reddy.

The leg bones, along with their blood vessels, were cut and made into jaws like structures that were attached to the cheekbones.

Dental sets

Sajid now has jaws but no teeth. But hope is not lost for him. Doctors plan to go for implanting dental sets and some more minor surgical corrections. "This may cost anywhere between Rs. 50,000 and Rs. 1 lakh," Dr. Reddy says.

Coming from a poor family, Sajid's father, an auto driver, could not bear any expenses. While a philanthropist, Amin, donated Rs. 30,000, the hospital has waived the other costs.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Andhra Pradesh