Rare surgery enables bed-ridden lungs-spine cancer patient walk again

Noida: Doctors at a city hospital have successfully conducted vertebroplasty surgery, a medical procedure where the bones are strengthened through biological cement injections, on a 60-year-old patient suffering from cancer in the lungs and spine, enabling him to walk again.

When Jiwan Chandra, from Pithorgarh, Uttarakhand, was brought to the team of doctors, he had a spinal fracture and was practically bed-ridden due to severe pain.

Diagnosis revealed that he was suffering from a medical condition, metastasis, where cancer in his lung was carried through blood to his lumbar spine.

"This was a rare case that presented multiple challenges of advanced age, fractured spine and an advanced case of lung cancer. Further investigations also revealed the patient was suffering additionally from myeloma," Dr Rahul Gupta, Additional Director, Neurosurgery, Fortis Hospital, Noida said.

Gupta said Chandra was treated with vertebroplasty where the patient's bones are strengthened through biological cement injections to erase the pain.

The compressed nerves in the back region which contributed significantly to the back pain were released by screws fixed in the lumbar spine region.

The surgery was beneficial to the patient in many ways as it increased the stability of posture, strengthened the spine and decreased the pain dramatically.

Vertebroplasty can be done under local anaesthesia and typically, the procedure takes less than one hour per fracture and may require an overnight hospital stay sometimes.

"The surgical procedure adopted in this case takes a minimal stay in the hospital. We have seen 100 per cent success rate with nil complications for such kind of cases. Apart from malignancy, vertebroplasty also holds a promising treatment in osteoporotic spine fracture," Gupta said.

"This is a very good example of how patient's suffering from multiple myeloma can be treated. Prompt diagnosis and treatment can rapidly expose the symptom of the patient and prevent long term disability.

The patient, Jiwan, is currently undergoing chemotherapy for the disease and is responding well. He will be followed up regularly," Devavrat Arya, senior consultant, Medical Oncology, Fortis Hospital said.

Expressing his gratitude to the doctors, the patient said, "My heartfelt gratitude to the doctors for gifting my movement back to me through well thought of treatment that I was given."

Back pain can actually be one of the first signs or symptoms of lung cancer. In case of lung cancer-induced back pain, this could be a result of the tumour contributing to back pain by creating pressure on the structures in the back.

Spread of the cancer through blood from one part of the body to another is also known to contribute to back pain and roughly 30 to 40 per cent people incur this with lung cancer, Gupta said.