Bengaluru: Arvind Kejriwal underwent a successful surgery on Wednesday at Narayana Health City for his persistent cough. The Delhi CM has been troubled by the coughing problem for over forty years. "The surgery was engineered for his particular problem which was an anatomical problem which needed to be rectified," says Dr Paul C Salins, Medical Director and Vice-President, Mazumdar Shaw Medical Center, Narayana Health City.
The surgery corrected an anatomical abnormality of his oral-pharyngeal and palatal area, which was causing small amounts of saliva to trickle into his air passages whenever his nose breathing was affected by allergy or other factors. Dr Paul C Salins made the diagnosis initially on the basis of observing the pattern of his bouts of coughing. It was confirmed by detailed computer analytics of cephalometrics, modeling simulation, also dynamic MRI and Video Fluroscopic examinations. "A restricted space for the movement of his tongue and an enlarged soft palate and uvula in relation to a slight increase in the volume of the tongue caused kinematic problems in its function," explains Dr Paul.
According to the hospital authorities Kejriwal's surgery involved correction of a significant septal spur by Dr Suhel Hasan, Head of Oto-Laryngology and the palato-pharyngeal correction along with repositioning the tongue base relationship by reorganisation of the chin area by Prof. Dr.Paul C. Salins assisted by Dr Samarth Shetty and Dr Praveen Ganesh of the Department of Craniofacial Surgery at Narayana Health City in Bengaluru. The aim of the correction was functional restoration rather than that of a disease.
Soon after recovery Kejriwal spoke to his family members and had a few sips of water. He is expected to be fully functional in a couple of days although recovery of such a long standing problem with its own functional accommodation will be gradual. Meanwhile the minister would be given liquid diet like cold soup as hard food would be an issue.
