SIMS Hospital treats spinal compression in 84-year-old through single-incision endoscopic surgery

Chennai, Jul 14 (PTI) Averting traditional open spine surgery, expert orthopaedic surgeons at SIMS Hospital here successfully performed an advanced single-incision endoscopic procedure on an 84-year-old patient with multi-level spinal stenosis and degenerative scoliosis, a spinal deformity that had caused severe lumbar nerve compression and left him unable to walk, hospital sources said. The advanced uniportal endoscopic spine procedure, performed through an 8 mm incision, relieved the compression and enabled the patient to regain mobility and get back on his feet, a release from the hospital on Tuesday said. The surgery was particularly challenging for several reasons. The patient’s severe degenerative scoliosis had significantly distorted the normal alignment of the spine and narrowed the spaces surrounding the spinal nerves. This anatomical distortion made the uniportal endoscopic spine surgery technically demanding, requiring exceptional precision to safely navigate the compressed neural structures through a single 8 mm portal, the release said. The patient's pre-existing cardiac condition added another layer of complexity. He had previously undergone coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery and had a permanent cardiac pacemaker, the hospital further said. These factors increased both surgical and anaesthetic risks, necessitating meticulous multidisciplinary planning and seamless intraoperative coordination to ensure patient safety while achieving effective nerve decompression. The procedure was performed by a multidisciplinary team comprising Dr G Venkatesh Kumar and Dr Vignesh Jayabalan, Senior Consultants in Orthopaedics, along with a cardiologist. PTI SNR SNR ADB