AL AIN, The Department of Orthopedic and Spinal Deformities Surgery at Tawam Hospital in Al Ain, a facility affiliated with the Abu Dhabi Health Services Company (SEHA), has successfully performed a series of complex operations for spinal deformities like kyphosis and scoliosis in children and adults.
Kyphosis is an exaggerated, forward rounding of the back that can occur at any age. Age-related kyphosis is often due to weakness in the spinal bones that causes them to compress or crack. Other types of kyphosis can appear in infants or teens due to malformation of the spine or wedging of the spinal bones over time. Treatment for kyphosis depends on the patient’s age and the cause and effects of the curvature.
Scoliosis is a sideways curvature of the spine that occurs most often during the growth spurt just before puberty. Most cases of scoliosis are mild, but some spine deformities continue to get more severe as children grow. In many cases, no treatment is necessary. Some children will need to wear a brace to stop the curve from worsening. Others may need surgery to keep the scoliosis from worsening and to straighten severe cases of scoliosis.
A team of surgeons and anesthesiologists in Tawam Hospital, led by Dr. Ziad Ibrahim Aljian, Orthopaedic and spine surgery consultant in the Orthopedic Department and Dr. Ahmed Abdel Aziz, Anesthesia Consultant, and with the support Dr. Basil Al Arabid, Division Chief and Dr. Omar Al Hamad, Chair of Anesthesia Department, successfully corrected severe deformity and scoliosis in the spine with an angle of more than one hundred degrees in a male 18-year-old Emirati patient.
Aljian said, “For many years, the young man suffered from severe deformation in the shape of the spine that caused pain and shortness of breath. Following multiple hospital visits across the country and after facing resistance from surgeons to operate due to the difficulty and complexity of his case, he visited us here, where we carefully evaluated his case and opted to proceed with the surgery.”
The surgical team performed the complex operation that lasted approximately ten hours and included several bone cuts in the vertebrae in the area of deformity, fixation and correction of the spine, returning it to its normal shape, and then placing a bone graft, after the completion of the installation in the correct position.
Post-operatively, the patient was transferred to the ICU, to be monitored and provided pain management.
The patient started mobilizing the second day after the operation and was discharged ten days after. He is currently back to full health and feeling much better, with an improvement both physically and aesthetically.
Dr. Aljian said, “Complex surgeries of this nature are normally performed in specialized centers. Luckily, Tawam Hospital is well equipped, trained and prepared to complete such procedures, thanks to our highly qualified medical and nursing staff. We are also resourced with the latest medical technologies and modern equipment, such as the neurological monitoring device that assesses the condition during the correction process and the device that collects the blood of the patient and returns it to the patient’s blood circulation following purification and preparation, which eliminates the need for blood transfusion.”
Source: Emirates News Agency