A MIRACULOUS SURGERY

CASE HISTORY

Patient BANDA SINGH, 16 years old, resident of Ludhiana, Punjab, had sustained injury of Dorsal (Thoracic) Spine as a result of a car accident on 25th December 2009. He was taken to Dayanand Medical College, Ludhiana where he was diagnosed as a case of “FRACTURE DISLOCATION OF DORSAL 3 VERTEBRA AND COMPLETE PARAPLEGIA (Paralysis of both lower limbs)”. He was having no sensation below the level of 3rd Rib. There was no power in the muscles of both the lower limbs. There was no control over his urinary bladder and bowel (Incontente). He was treated conservatively in that hospital. MRI was done which showed Comminuted Fracture of body of D3 vertebra. The Fracture fragments are body compressing the Spinal Cord and the nerve roots. The Spinal Cord was lacerated and transected at the level of D3.

The patient was transferred to Indraparstha Apollo Hospital, New Delhi under care of Dr.S.S.Sanyal, Senior Consultant Orthopedic Surgeon on 15th January 2010. After examining the patient and his investigations, Dr.Sanyal and his colleague Dr.V.Jaiswal, Senior Consultant Neurosurgeon decided to go for Surgery. They planned to DECOMPRESS the Spine at D3 Level followed by fixation of Spine and fusion by Hurtshill Ring and Bone grafting.

On 16th January 2010, they operated on the patient. Decompression was done at the level of D3 vertebra through a small incision. The whole operation was conducted under Microscope with minimum blood loss. Soon after decompression, the surgeons could see Pulsation of the cord. That was an indication that perhaps the part of the Spinal Cord is still intact. Micro-drills were used to decompress the spine. The Surgeons decided to postpone the second part of the Surgery at a later date seeing the vital status of the patient and with the advice of the Anesthetist.

Next day, when the Surgeons examined the patient, it was a MIRACLE. There was substantial improvement as far as his Neurological status was concerned. His sensation had improved dramatically. He could feel 50% till his umbilicus and below that he could feel very meekly. As far as his muscle power was concerned, he could press his foot against the surgeons hand downward and he could feel that he is pressing.

Most important thing is that the patient could feel that he wanted to evacuate his bowel. He also started getting a feeling that there is some sensation in his urinary bladder. Surgeons started clamping his catheter 4 hourly and got a sensation to evacuate his bladder. The next part of the surgery would be done to fix his spine in order to mobilize the patient.

To conclude, only one in a Million shows signs of improvement only after 36 hours of surgery (Decompression). Secondly with such a small incision, going antrolaterally without damaging the pleura, hung, very few Surgeons are able to successfully access that area. Both the Surgeons expect that the patient would come to their Clinic Walking in One year time!

This is truly a Miraculous Achievement for our Surgeons and deserves Media Attention so that our Doctors could perform such difficult surgeries succesfully and save millions of lives - who knows, it could be any one of us someday.

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