Afghan national undergoes spine surgery at Zirakpur

Zirakpur, October 13, 2018: An Afghan national has undergone successful spine surgery at Zirakpur hospital recently. Mohamed Zay Niaz (67) from Mazar-i Sharif in Afghanistan was suffering from severe leg pain and lower limb weakness due to three level disc collapse. He underwent minimal access disc height restoration using spacers (cages) to relieve pressure from the pinched nerves Dr Gaurav Sharma at Amcare Hospital, Zirakpur. Dr Gaurav Sharma, a spine surgeon with fellowship training at Singapore General Hhospital while giving information about surgery said that spine surgery is considered risky and patients travel long distances to get their back fixed. He said that the state of the art spinal surgery was done under neuro-monitoring control for increased safety at no extra cost. The patient was mobilized next day after surgery and discharged on the fifth day. His leg pain has disappeared and weakness has started to improve. According to Dr Sharma, there are several advantages of minimally invasive disc height restoration technology including complete decompression of the nerve root, no requirement of blood transfusion, and minimal disruption of normal midline structures. Meanwhile Dr Sharma has performed more than 60 such disc height restoration procedures referred to as minimally invasive transforaminal interbody fusion and as well as oblique lateral interbody fusion (OLIF) as well. Interestingly, he is the only surgeon to perform OLIF in Punjab and Haryana. He also runs weekly peripheral OPDs in Shimla, Ropar, Ambala, Yamunanagar and Patiala.