Hyderabad: Spine surgeries must be done by neurosurgeons and not by orthopaedics, as the latter generally operate on the bones while nerves are not handled properly, say specialists.
A senior neurosurgeon in the city said, “We have seen cases of orthopaedic surgeons doing spine surgeries in Nizam’s Institute of Medical Sciences and these were a disaster. The patients got completely paralysed. They also had to pay a large sum for the surgery, though it was not properly done. Hence it is very important that neurosurgeons only do spine surgery.”
At the same time, there are also team efforts like orthopaedic and neurosurgeons coming together for complex surgeries. In the case of 28-year-old Annabathula Natraj at Yashoda Hospital, brother Nagraju is upset that the patient will take three months to walk. Dr Kiran Kumar, senior surgeon who conducted the operation, said, “It was an open surgery because of the complex problems of back pain, the patient was unable to walk and there was also nerve compression. I had told him that he would be able to walk in three days, but later complications developed.”
There was a clotting in the nerve and it had to be released. So, a second operation was carried out. Now, the patient is showing considerable hip movement and is also walking a few steps after physiotherapy. Dr Kumar says, “In 2 to 5 per cent of the cases, there are complications. He is one such patient.”
