'International Spine Award' for Dr.S.Rajasekaran
A surgeon of leading hospital here has been awarded 'International Spine Award' by the Asia Pacific Orthopaedic Association (APOA) for developing a new technique for the correction of tuberculous spine deformity.The award, carrying a citation and 2,500 US dollars, was presented to Dr S Rajasekaran of Ganga Hospital during the triennial congress of the association held at Seoul from September 9 to 14.APOA is one of the leading associations with members from 40 countries.Rajasekaran said there were more than 30 million people seriously affected by TB, a majority of them being in the Indian sub-continent. TB destroys the bones of the spine as a result of which entire spine collapses leading to severe hunchback, he said in a release here today.The deformity would progress even after the disease is cured. In several cases, patients developed difficulty in breathing and also end up having paralysis of the limbs due to pressure on the spinal cord.Surgical correction of such deformities was performed only in a very few centres because of technical difficulties and high risk of complications.The technique allowed for very safe correction, requiring multi-stage procedures. There was also 5-10 per cent mortality from the surgery, he said.
