A 12-year-old Kyrgyz girl with an extremely deformed spine underwent surgery at Aakash Healthcare Super Speciality Hospital in Dwarka, Delhi, to reduce the curvature of her spine from 130 degrees to 30 degrees. The doctors made use of 3D printed jigs to assist in the complicated surgery.
The girl has Progressive Dorsolumbar Scoliosis, a rare condition that affects approximately three children in every one lakh. According to the doctors, the disease is mostly caused by genetic flaws. However, it can also be caused by other factors such as muscular dystrophy, cerebral palsy, infection, tumor, or injuries.
Deformed Spine and Pelvis
According to the hospital statement, the girls’ spine was treated using 3D printing technology. She was unable to live a normal life due to the congenital disease because her spine had a curvature of 130 degrees, and her condition was deteriorating day by day, necessitating immediate treatment.
In addition to the deformed spine, the girl also had pelvic obliqueness, which is a pelvic misalignment. In this condition, one hip is frequently higher than the other. As a result of the persistent pain in her pelvic region, she could no longer walk properly because her body had begun to slant to one side.
Coming to India
As the girl’s condition worsened, her parents brought her to India. A 16-hour spine correction surgery was done in two stages by the ortho-spine division.
In the first stage of surgery, which lasted six hours, soft tissue adhesions were removed and multiple osteotomies (bone cuts) were used to increase the spine’s flexibility while correcting the alignment in the coronal plane.
Using 3D Printed Jigs
The second phase of the surgery involved the insertion of several titanium screws with help of 3D printed jigs. These custom-made 3D printed jigs played an important role in pre-operative planning and also gave the surgeons an opportunity to practice the complicated screw insertion procedure on a 3D printed model which was a traced copy of the deformed spine.
“Due to the spine’s severe deformity and the difficulty in inserting screws, the 3D printed jigs served as a crucial component to execute the surgery safely and without complications. The 3D imprint aided in surgical planning by calculating the size of the bone pedicles through which screws were put.”
– Dr. Nagesh Chandra, senior consultant, Spine Surgery
Chandra added, “At every stage, 3D printing helped to plan the screw’s size, length, and direction. The most important feature is that it considerably lowered the risk of neurological complications and the associated problems. We could achieve almost 70 per cent to 80 per cent correction after surgery. Now her spine curvature has been reduced to just 30 degrees.”
The hospital assured that the girl is receiving physical therapy sessions to help her recuperate and she will be able to live a normal life without any problems.
Original Source: PTI News Service
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