Rare surgery performed at Tezpur Medical College

FROM A CORRESPONDENT

TEZPUR, March 20:  A rare surgery for fractured spine was performed successfully for the first time at the Tezpur Medical College Hospital (TMC Hospital) by a team of orthopaedic doctors led by assistant professor of Orthopedics, Dr Sarfraz Iman, along with assistant professor Dr Firoz Ahmed, Registrar Dr GC Paul and anesthetist Dr Tapan Talukdar.

Dr Sarfraz Iman, speaking on the successful surgery, said that a 20-year-old patient, Lalit Basphore from the Harijan Colony, Tezpur, who had fallen from a height and fractured his vertebrae with complete paraplegia, was admitted to the Tezpur Medical College and operated on with “spil fusion with pedicle screws and decompression” on March 12. Explaining the spil trouble faced by a patient, Dr Iman said that only a person who has experienced a damaged spil disc understands the agony and helplessness it brings. “The pain can be excruciating. Every movement seems to make it worse. This pain is a warning sigl that you should heed. If you take appropriate action, the discomfort usually stops, and the problem can be corrected,” he said, adding that spil discs are rubbery pads between the vertebrae, the specialised bones that make up the spil column.

Dr Iman said that Lalit Basphore, who could not afford the cost of the surgery due to his poor economic condition, recovered dramatically after the surgery. “We are optimistic that this kind of surgery will help poor patients of our region who cannot afford the surgery outside.