×
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT

Class 9 girl who couldn't walk without support gets new life after rare surgery

Last Updated 29 March 2016, 19:50 IST

She found it hard to walk even a few steps. Constant visits to hospitals had brought her spirits down. While many of her age played a sport of their choice, 13-year-old Gaganashree was forced to stay indoors

.

A class 9 student at a private school in T Dasarahalli, Gaganashree suffered from Spondyloepiphyseal dysplasia and always relied upon others to move around.

It was a complex six-hour, single-stage, multi-level corrective surgery that changed her life for better. The surgery gave her a new lease of life and helped her to become independent.

Speaking at a press conference at Fortis Hospitals, Bannerghatta Road, here on Tuesday, her grandmother M G Gowramma recalled how the girl had severe pain and could not walk without support. “When she was born, she learnt to walk normally.

But when she started going to montessori, she had difficulties in walking. Even her teacher said something was not right,” Gowramma said.

Spondyloepiphyseal dysplasia is a rare, genetic disorder characterised by a malformation of the growing ends of the long bones. The deformity could involve the spine, hips and knees, according to doctors.  “We did a detailed evaluation and diagnosed her with having Spondyloepiphyseal dysplasia, wherein her long bones were not growing normally because the growing ends of her bones were malformed. We told the parents the disorder requires complex deformity correction surgery,” Dr Mohan Puttaswamy, Consultant Reconstructive Orthopaedic Surgeon at Fortis Hospitals, said.

Puttaswamy said the teenager’s condition worsened because not only was she short in stature, but she also had ligament dysfunction in the knee joints. The surgery was planned in such a way that the growing ends of the bones should be preserved and the ligaments in the knees would be tightened.

Doctors corrected the deformities in her right femur (thighbone) and left tibia (shin bone), straightening her bones. A technique called ‘Open-closed wedge technique’ was used so that the length of the right thighbone was not decreased. In the left leg too, a similar strategy was used to avoid shortening of the limb and both her legs were straightened. The loose ligaments in the knee joints were tightened to enable her to walk with stability.
 

ADVERTISEMENT
(Published 29 March 2016, 19:50 IST)

Follow us on

ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT