#Mumbai doctors perform rare surgery on Bamboo Spine patient

MUMBAI: A team of doctors at a city hospital here have performed minimal access spine surgery on an 82-year -old ‘Ankylosing Spondylitis’ (Bamboo Spine) patient by implanting 14 screws in his spinal cord, a rare medical feat.

Ankylosing Spondylitis, commonly known as Bamboo Spine, is a form of rheumatic arthritis which is associated with long-term inflammation of the joints in the spine. Symptoms include pain and stiffness from the neck down to the lower back.

“Ibrahim Mullaji had a fall in November 2014 and post the fall he was constantly complaining of an excruciating back pain. In February 2015, he became totally bed ridden and was paralysed by the legs,” Dr Vishal Peshattiwar, Endoscopic and Minimally Invasive Spine Surgeon, who led the team of doctors in the surgery at Global Hospital, told reporters yesterday.

He said Mullaji had first visited the hospital in the first week of March and upon investigations it was found that had develop ..