International Spine Award From Asia Pacific Orthopaedic Association
for
Developing A New Unique Technique For Correction Of Tuberculous Spine Deformity
Asia Pacific Orthopaedic Association (APOA), a leading Association of Orthopaedic and Spine Surgeons from Asia Pacific Region, has given the prestigious spine award to Dr S Rajasekaran of Ganga Hospital for developing a new unique technique for correction of Tuberculous Spine Deformity at Seoul, Korea recently.
This prestigious award carries a citation and cash award of USD 2500 and was presented by the APOA President Prof Myung-Sang Moon to Dr S Rajasekaran on 14-9-07. The award was given during the APOA triennial congress held at Seoul, Korea from 9-14 September’07.
The Asia Pacific Orthopaedic Association is one of the leading associations with members from forty countries around the world but mainly from the seventeen Member Chapters. These are Australia, Bangladesh, China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Myanmar, New Zealand, Pakistan, Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, Vietnam, Turkey and Sri Lanka.
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| Dr S Rajasekaran of Ganga Hospital receiving the prestigious international spine award from Asia Pacific Orthopaedic Association (APOA) President Prof Myung-Sang Moon, during the APOA Triennial congress held at Seoul, Korea recently . Others seen in the picture are Prof JY Chung and Prof Kee-Yong Ha |
There are more than 30 million people affected with serious infections of tuberculosis of whom a majority are in the Indian sub-continent. Tuberculosis destroys the bones of the spine as a result of which the entire spine collapses and severe hunch-back deformity can result. This is very common especially when children are affected and the deformity will progress even after the disease is cured. In severe cases, patients developed difficulty in breathing and also end up with paralysis of the limbs due to pressure on the spinal cord.
Surgical correction of such deformities is performed only in very few centres in the world because of technical difficulties and high risk of complications. It also requires multi-staged procedures which are very cumbersome and hazardous to the patients. There is also 5-10% mortality involved in this surgery.
The Spine Unit of Ganga Hospital led by Dr S Rajasekaran developed a new operative procedure which allowed for very safe correction of the deformity by a single-staged surgery. This technique not only gave better correction than before but was also safe without any danger of paralysis of the limbs. Children with this surgery can walk within a few days and be normal within a couple of months. It also considerably reduces the cost while increasing the safety for patients. This technique can also be applied for severe hunch-back deformities following congenital problems, paralytic problems of the spine etc.
This new procedure has now been recommended as the preferred procedure of choice for such problems in all spine units around the world.