Six-month-old undergoes metal-free spine fixation surgery at AIIMS

Doctors at AIIMS here have conducted a successful metal-free spine fixation surgery on a six-month-old boy using a bone graft from his mother, making him the youngest infant in Asia to undergo such surgery, the hospital said.

The infant was kept on a ventilator for 11 months after undergoing the 15-hour surgery on June 10 last year and was discharged on May 10, the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) said in a statement.

The child had sustained spinal cord and brachial plexus injury during normal vaginal delivery at another hospital. He weighed 4.5 kg (macrosomia) at birth, said Dr Deepak Gupta, professor of neurosurgery at AIIMS.

After birth, the child was put on oxygen support and had episodes of aspiration pneumonia in another hospital.

"At the time of presentation to us in May 2022 at 5 months of age, the child had respiratory distress and minimal movement of all three limbs (left upper and lower limbs, right lower limb) and no movement of right upper limb. Examinat