Chennai :

Surgeons at a government hospital in the city set right a neural disorder that causes an uncontrollable shivering of limbs by inserting an endoscope through the patient’s nose.

Manaangatti, 60, a labourer from Red Hills, could not find proper work for the past five months because of shivering in his hands and legs. He was admitted to the neurosurgery department of Stanley Medical College Hospital in October. Doctors diagnosed the condition as atlanto-axial dislocation.

“An MRI scan showed that his atlas bone in the spine was dislocated and causing severe compression of nerves. This caused shivering and loss of sensation in the lower part of his body,” said Dr Jacob Grand, head of the neurosurgery department.

In a procedure performed last month, surgeons inserted an endoscope (a device with a light used to look inside a body cavity or an organ) through his nose and corrected the dislocation by removing the C1 and part of the C2 vertebrae.

“Conventionally, this is done as a standard surgery through the mouth. We cut open the soft palette and perform the procedure. But in an attempt to avoid tissue loss, we decided to do a nasal endoscopy, which is minimally invasive and relatively painless,” said the doctor.

Since some bones in the spine had been removed, the doctors used a collar to maintain the position of the neck. Stanley dean Dr A L Meenakshi Sundaram said such minimally invasive procedures reduce blood loss, pain and the length of hospital stay. “Considering the age of the patient, doctors skipped the conventional open surgery and managed to achieve much better results.”

Three days after the procedure, doctors performed spinal surgery and attached titanium rods to stabilize the neck bone.

Within a few days, the patient regained sensation in his limbs and could move around normally.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Chennai / TNN / December 17th, 2014