ABU DHABI- Sheikh Shakhbout Medical City (SSMC), a joint-venture partnership between Mayo Clinic and Abu Dhabi Health Services Company (SEHA), has completed the hospital’s first complex thoracolumbar scoliosis deformity correction on a 16-year-old female patient, Hoor Abu Baker Youssef Elnayed.

Scoliosis surgery is typically performed at much larger centres due to its extremely complex nature. SSMC is the first health care centre in Abu Dhabi island to conduct the complex surgery, making it one of only three facilities in the UAE performing the procedure.

The surgery was led by Dr. Charbel Daoud Moussallem, a veteran orthopedics and spine surgeon at SSMC with extensive experience in the region and in the U.S., having completed a Spine Surgery Fellowship at Mayo Clinic in Minnesota. He was assisted by SSMC Orthopedics Specialist Dr. Mahmoud Al Cheikh Ahmad.

The Orthopedics team performed the procedure at SSMC in only three hours, achieving anatomical correction using neuromonitoring with minimal blood loss.

"The team had undergone an extensive two-week period of pre-operative planning which – after conducting a mock surgery and doing consultations with a multidisciplinary team – we had factored in three hours of surgical time. Decreasing surgical time meant that the patient was healthy; it also means less blood loss and less risk of paralysis. We were very pleased with the outcome," said Dr. Moussallem.

The extent of the surgery was significant. The team conducted T2 surgery, just below the patient’s cervical spine to the lumbar spine, which corrected 100 percent of her spine. This means that the team managed to achieve normal alignment, which will result in a completely straight back. The patient was encouraged to walk the next day and required a few days in the hospital for recovery. The surgical sutures were removed approximately three weeks post-surgery. The patient resumed her daily routine three to six weeks after the procedure, including physical activities.

"The successful completion of this extensive procedure was only possible due to a well-coordinated, multidisciplinary approach. This involved the Operating Room team that supported the pre-operative planning for the procedure, the Anaesthesia team, which ensured complex muscle relaxation and reversal at different times during the surgery with tight blood pressure control and adequate spinal cord perfusion; along with the Radiology team for x-ray control. The patient has successfully come through the process and is back to living her daily life," noted Dr. Mousallem.

 

© Copyright Emirates News Agency (WAM) 2021.