Spinal deformities can be corrected - Dr Hegde

Nadira GUNATILLEKE

Spinal deformities can be corrected through successful surgeries allowing young girls to look pretty, become healthy and normal, Consultant Spine Surgeon attached to the Apollo Hospital, Chennai Dr Sajan K Hegde told the Daily News yesterday.

Dr Hegde is now in Sri Lanka performing open surgeries at the Colombo National Hospital in order to educate Sri Lankan doctors on the latest techniques of performing spinal surgeries. He is also attending the Spine Operative Course organized by the Asia Pacific Orthopaedic Association now going on at the Neuro Trauma Centre of the Colombo National Hospital.

Many participants from countries such as Singapore, India, Korea, Taiwan, Bangladesh, Malaysia and Australia take part in this course.

According to Dr Hegde he had already performed around 25 surgeries on Sri Lankans and all of them were successful. The spinal cord of young girls tends to bend. Six in every hundred children have some sort of spinal cord deformity.

Some of those children need surgeries to correct the deformity.

When the child is between 10 and 15 years her spinal cord is flexible and easy to correct.

Unlike in the past, children who now undergo this surgery do not need to be in bed for several days. They can get up after 24 or 48 hours and go back to school in two or three weeks.

Now the children do not need to suffer because medical science is much more advanced now. They can lead a normal life after surgery. Some parents do not let their children undergo surgery because of fear, he added.