Some cheer for the patients suffering from slip disc. In a path-breaking Minimally Invasive Spinal Surgery (MISS), a slip disc was corrected through a small incision. The operation was performed in the city for the first time by Dr Alok Ranjan, Senior Neuro-Surgeon, Apollo Hospitals. Announcing this at a press conference on Friday, Dr Ranjan said the revolutionary neuro surgery of spine was performed on a patient from Bangladesh who was suffering from severe back and leg pain.

He said though the surgery lasts two hours, the patients could walk back home within six hours and resume normal activities within 24 hours as against three months in the conventional method.

“Earlier a conventional surgery for back pain or leg pain due to disc prolapse required open surgery, wherein there was a bigger skin incision, muscle cutting, removal of bone and ligament etc. This required a longer stay in the hospital and caused terrible pain while recovering,” he said.

Explaining the new concept developed only six months ago in the west, Dr Ranjan said in this method, a one cm long incision is made like in laparoscopic surgery. Small surgical instruments and a telescope-like apparatus are then passed through this incision. The endoscope is connected to a tiny video camera which projects an inside view of the patient's spinal chord onto computer screens. Then, the protruding disc that hampers the movement of nerves in the spine is gradually plucked out. After the procedure, the small incision is closed with a few sutures and covered with surgical tapes.

On an average about 50 surgeries are performed every day in Hyderabad alone on patients suffering from slip disc in the conventional way. For such patients the MISS method would become a boon, Dr Ranjan said. The surgery costs slightly higher and can be done with local anaesthesia.