Technology

Resorbable Screws Corrects Congenital Spinal Problem

Apollo Hospital, Chennai has for the first time in India used resorbable screws to correct a spinal problem. Normally, metal implants and screws are used to set bones and another surgery is required to remove them once the bones set.

Until a month ago, the six-year-old patient Maureen Richard Shirima from Tanzania suffered excruciating back pain, caused by a congenital anomaly of the lower spine and the spinal cord. She recalled, "Sometimes when I came back to class (after playing) I would be sick. It would hurt when I jumped, when I ran."

Maureen's problem was that she had a low-lying spinal cord which was tethered to a benign tumour. A lower vertebra had broken causing back ache. Senior consultant and spine surgeon Sajan K Hegde said that a bone graft was taken from the child and used to set the fractured bone and resorbable screws helped to keep the bones in place. He said resorbable screws were in use for sometime now across the world, but this was the first time it was being used in India to correct such rare problems of the lower spine.

"In patients where the implants were not removed, the possibility of going for an MRI scan, if needed, was ruled out," said Dr Hegde, adding "Resorbable screws, now widely used for setting bones in other parts of the body, was chosen considering the patient's age."

The child was a beneficiary of collaboration between the Tanzanian Health Ministry and hospitals in India. The cost of her surgery was borne by the Tanzanian Government, said a representative of the Tanzanian High Commission.

EH News Bureau