Octogenarian’s shift from wheelchair to walking: Rela Hospital successfully performs a spine Surgery on 81-year-old women from Chennai

Chennai, November 28th, 2022: An 81-year-old woman from Chennai with a less than 40% heart ejection rate, was also suffering from acute spinal cord compression which led to her being confined to a wheelchair, was treated successfully by a team of doctors at Rela Hospital, a Multi-Speciality Quaternary Care Hospital at Chromepet. The Doctor’s team headed by Dr. Parthasarathy Srinivasan, Senior Consultant -Orthopaedics, Head – Spine Surgery successfully performed the spine surgery and made the osteoporotic woman walk without any assistance. The surgery lasted for 2 hours.

Mrs. Vasanthi (Name Changed), an 81-year-old resident of Chromepet, made an anxious wheelchair arrival at Rela Hospital with her son and daughter-in-law. She had experienced loss of mobility and movement which made her, and her family grief stricken. On arrival at Rela Hospital, the team of doctor’s performed a thorough evaluation. It was discovered that she had acute spinal cord compression as a result of the 6th cervical vertebra sliding over the 7th and reducing the canal diameter. She also had a history of coronary artery disease, which affected her heart function. The only way to give her a chance of walking again was through spine surgery.

The doctors explained to her son the risk of performing the spine surgery. Considering her age and having a history of Coronary Artery Disease, anaesthesia became a delicate and risky affair. The team at Rela Hospital went ahead with the surgery with all the precautions, the surgery was completed uneventfully, and she was shifted to the ward after monitoring her in the ICU for a day. On the 3rd day after surgery, she felt strong enough to walk with a little help and went home happily on the 5th day after surgery

Speaking about the challenges Dr. Parthasarathy said, “Due to the patient’s advanced age and poor heart condition (ejection fraction of 40%), there was a significant risk of cardiac events occurring during or shortly after the procedure. As the bone was exceedingly brittle and osteoporotic at this advanced age, performing spine surgery was challenging and increased the likelihood of failure. The patient’s cord damage had a possibility of getting worse, necessitating the use of a ventilator, but the Rela Team overcame all challenges to complete the treatment and allow the patient to get up unassisted added Dr.Parthasarathy

“I cannot thank Dr. Parthasarathy enough; he is the reason why my mother is back on her feet, walking again and more importantly that brought back the smile in her face and in ours too. The debilitating pain kept her away from walking. The same house where I have seen her actively moving around, it was upsetting to see her moving around the same house, but in a wheelchair. It is a huge relief to see her doing her favourite activities and all thanks to the doctor”- said Mrs.Vasanthi’s son.

“Osteoporosis is a disease in which bone mass and bone strengths are reduced gradually. In India, at least one in three women are affected by this resulting in restricted movement and causing hindrance to daily activity. As we get older, we are no longer able to replace bone tissue as quickly as we lose it said”, Dr. Parthasarathy.

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