Paraparies patient treated without surgery

Bangalore :

Ramesh Manikatti (50), a native of Bagalkot  was rushed to a city hospital last month with symptoms of Paraparesis, a disease of progressive weakness of the lower limbs. The disease over a few months had made his limbs weak and dysfunctional over time.

Ramesh had earlier been evaluated in Goa and Hubli but was not given a definitive treatment due to the complexity of the disease and was referred to Apollo Hospitals  in Bangalore. He was evaluated by neurosurgeons Dr K N Krishna and team, and neurologist Dr Sreekanta Swamy. The MRI of the spine showed swelling of the spinal cord due to abnormal cross connection of spinal blood vessels which is known as dural arteriovenous malformation, a surgical condition which needs spinal surgery to disconnect the abnormal connection between the vessels sitting on the spinal cord.

Dr Sharath Kumar G G, Consultant Neurointerventionist, Apollo Hospitals, further evaluated and recommended a spinal angiogram be done under local anesthesia in angiography suite. The exact site of the pathology was identified and treated simultaneously in the same sitting using endovascular glue injection, a procedure in which abnormal blood vessel was blocked with a glue like medication using small catheters in the blood vessel there by disconnecting the abnormal connection. This led to the avoidance of the surgery and the patient showed significant improvement on the next day.

According to Sharath Kumar, “The main challenge during the minimally invasive procedure was to get around the disease. Paraparesis was making the patient’s lower limbs dysfunctional with each passing day. The treatment had to proceed very cautiously as the limbs were totally distorted. The next challenge was the connection of spinal blood vessels. The task was to separate the connection between the vessels on the spinal cord.”

Ramesh was discharged after two days and is on the path of complete recovery.

source: http://www.articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Bangalore / by Hetal Vyas, TNN / April 15th, 2013

Leave a Reply