The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : Rare twin surgery at GH

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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Rare twin surgery at GH

Staff Reporter

CHENNAI: A rare twin surgery was performed on a 27-year-old pregnant woman by a team of doctors at the Government General Hospital here recently.

Easwari from Sriperumbudur underwent a caesarean section and was simultaneously operated for Dorsal spine hematoma, a blood clot on the spine, on August 31. She was suffering from low back pain that aggravated during her final months of pregnancy and she suffered from numbness and weakness in her legs.

She soon developed dense paraplegia and lost sensation and reflexes of her lower limbs, followed by bladder dysfunction and urinary hesitancy.

As her condition worsened, she was admitted to the Government General Hospital and a team of obstetricians, headed by Sasirekha, did a caesarean section on her and she delivered a baby weighing 1.8 kg. The caesarean section was immediately followed by a neurosurgery by doctors R. Arunkumar, Kodeeswaran and Manorajitha Kumara. The team removed a large epidural hematoma, a clot on the spine.

“Once the clot was removed, the compression on the spinal cord was relieved. That helped her regain bladder control,” explained Dr. Arunkumar.

Though she has got back the sensation in her limbs, it would take months for her to walk.

“There is a greater possibility of regaining her lower limb movements soon with physiotherapy treatments,” he added.

D.C. Veni, Medical Superintendent, said that both surgeries had to be done immediately as her limb condition worsened but the foetus was healthy. “She was in her 32nd week of pregnancy and after ultrasound and MRI scans, we decided to go ahead with both operations at the same time,” Dr. Veni said. The surgeries lasted for two hours.

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