Rare surgery on patient suffering from cerebral palsy

For 42 year-old Srisailam of Warangal, life has taken a turnaround. For a man who was unable to stand straight since childhood as he was one among 1,000 people who get affected by cerebral palsy, he is now able to stand with the help of a walker.

Srisailam had to sell his house to bear the Rs 2 lakh expense for the rare surgery done at KIMS Hospital a few months back. The actual cost of the surgery was Rs 6 lakh but, thanks to the hospital management, Rs 4 lakh was waived off.

Dr Uday Krishna Krishna, consultant orthopedics and joint replacement surgeon, KIMS Hospital, said, “The five-hour surgery has helped the patient to stand up for the first time in his life. The surgery was challenging as the patient was suffering from Cerebral Palsy with Quadriparesis with a hip fracture.”

In the past few years the patient underwent several surgeries but it only aggravated the problem. The femur bone moved 6 cm and formed a pseudo joint. Added to the problem, there was a fracture on the head of the ball.

Dr Prasad, specialist in cerebral palsy in children who was part of the team that operated on Srisailam said, “Cerebral palsy refers to a group of neurological disorders that appear in infancy or early childhood and permanently affect body movement and muscle coordination. It is caused by damage to or abnormalities inside the developing brain that disrupt the brain’s ability to control movement and maintain posture and balance.”

“Unfortunately the patient had all four limbs affected (quadriparesis) which itself is very disabling he has stiff or tight muscles and exaggerated reflexes of all four limbs (spasticity),” he added. He visited Dr Uday Krishna three years back when he suffered from a complex hip problem coupled with pain due to fracture. Over the last few years, he underwent multiple surgeries elsewhere to try and attempted to fix the fracture but, failed due to the complexity of the matter.