AR
UR
Doctors at Al Ain’s Tawam Hospital recently performed a successful surgery to treat a 21-year-old woman who had rigid scoliosis. Under this condition, the spine transforms into a curved line instead of being straight. This condition severely impacted her daily routine and quality of life.
A German patient, Azza, visited various hospitals before consulting Tawam for her treatment. At Tawam, a medical team conducted a highly complicated surgery known as complex spine osteotomy using neuromonitoring and cell saver techniques to correct Azza’s spine and relieve her from the rigid scoliosis.
Speaking about her treatment, Azza expressed happiness with her decision to have surgery at Tawam Hospital and achieving the desired results.
"The complex operation improved my lungs’ ability to function, my body shape, and has made me feel so much better about myself,” she added.
Complex spine osteotomy is a form of surgery in which a bone is cut to shorten, lengthen or change its alignment. Doctors explained that in Azza’s case, the operation helped in correcting her body shape as well as improving lung function.
“Now that my spine has been corrected, I feel my quality of life has improved, and I am much more aligned and comfortable with my body,” Azza added.
The development has come in line with the efforts made by the Abu Dhabi Health Services Company (SEHA), the UAE’s largest healthcare network, in advancing modern surgical techniques in the country's hospitals to ensure the provision of necessary treatment to patients in need.
Azza was admitted to the hospital on November 30 last year. Her surgery was conducted the same day, following which she spent four weeks in recovery. This was followed by 10 sessions of physiotherapy.
Azza's surgery was conducted by Dr M Ziad Aljian, consultant physician, orthopaedic, at Tawam Hospital. Talking about the surgery, Dr Aljian underlined that the hospital's medical team has an extensive experience in complex spine deformity surgery. Many surgeries have been performed successfully in Tawam Hospital with all of them resulting in the most ideal outcomes.
"Using neuromonitoring and cell saver with modern spine osteotomy, we can implement the best innovation in the care of spine deformities here in the UAE, and Tawam Hospital is among the country’s pioneers in introducing this treatment," he added.
A surgeon employs neuromonitoring to assess the function of spinal cord during an operation using real-time feedback from individual nerve roots, motor tracts, and sensory tracts. Furthermore, cell saver is a specific type of autologous blood transfusion under which blood lost during surgery is recovered and re-infused into the patient. It is performed when there are chances of significant blood loss.
According to Dr Aljian, this technique requires dedicated training and accreditation for the surgeon. He further hailed Tawam Hospital's state-of-the-art and fully equipped team which was able to conduct such a complex spine surgery. Tawam's expert medical team include a dedicated paediatric anaesthesia team as well as expert orthopaedic doctors specialising in spine deformities.
SOURCE: Khaleej Times