Key Hole Surgery helps correct disc problem of an African patient of 132 kg at Apollo Clinic, Chennai !

A 46-year-old business-woman from Africa, weighing 132 kg with intervertebral disc pro-lapse, underwent percu-taneous discectomy through hydrodissection at Back and Pain Centre, The Apollo Clinic, T. Nagar. “This is the first time this procedure has been done to someone who weighs more than 90 kg. She had been suffering from back pain for the past three years and the shooting pain was radiat-ing down her legs. She was referred to this centre by one of her relatives,” said Dr Karthic Babu Natarajan, consultant pain physician of the Back and Pain Centre.

Dr Natarajan said, “The procedure is don ethrough a small hole 1 to 2 mm long in the back with X-ray guidance. The procedure lasted about an hour and her diseased disc material was taken out through the small hole. She left the hospital on the same day and her pain has disappeared now.”

Instead of open spine surgery that could have put her in a high-risk category, this minimally invasive percutaneous disectomy was performed and it helped her, said Dr. Natarajan. The woman, who did not want to be named, said she walked 1 km a few days after the procedure. “I was suffering from severe back pain that restricted my daily activities. It’s more than a year since I walked continuously,” she said. The procedure costs around Rs 70,000.