Key hole spine surgery at CMC

Tue, Jan 28, 2014 at 11:51 AM
 It is a day care surgery

Dr. Sarvpreet Singh Grewal, Prof. & Head, Deptt. of Neurosurgery, Dr. Harman Sobti, Neurosurgeon at CMC & H along with patient Baldev Singh from Fatehgarh Sahib.

The second photo is of the incision on the back of the patient

Ludhiana, 28^th Jan, 2014 (Shalu Arora and Rector Kathuria):

 Back pain & leg  pain are the two most common reasons of a patient for referral to spine specialties today. The most common diagnosis in such a patient is extruded disc. Not all of the patients with back pain require a surgical intervention, surgery may be necessary in some patients. Out of those requiring surgery many patients do not avail it with the fear of instability. To overcome this, the department of Neurosurgery at Christian Medical College & Hospital, Ludhiana under the stewardship of Prof. Sarvpreet Singh Grewal has started Key Hole Spine Surgery. In this procedure there is very minimal tissue cutting & no muscle and bone cutting. It is done under general anaethesia using an endoscope/microscope with a small one inch incision on the back. Dr. Sarvpreet Singh Grewal, Professor and Head, Department of Neurosurgery at Christian Medical College & Hospital, Ludhiana told media persons that the advantage of this surgery is that there is minimal post –operative pain & the patient is walking the same evening. He also said that it is a day care surgery as the patient is discharged same day, free from his pain. 

Dr. Sarvpreet Singh Grewal has performed many such surgeries. In the last week, two patients with an extruded lumbar disc were operated by him with this technique. The first was a young 26 years old, volleyball player from Fatehgarh Sahib, who came to him with an extremely intolerable back radiating down to his right leg. Due to this he was unable to carry on his daily activities & become almost bed ridden. Dr. Sarvpreet Singh Grewal & his team at CMC & Hospital, Ludhiana did a minimal invasive spine surgery and the extruded disc which was compressing the nerve root was removed with the microscope. Dr. Harman Sobti, Neurosurgeon at CMC & Hospital Ludhiana, who was also present along with Dr. Grewal in the surgery told that the patient become pain free immediately after surgery & was able to carry on his normal lifestyle the next day after surgery.   

Similarly, Dr. Sarvpreet Singh Grewal & Dr. Harman Sobti, also operated another 68 year old male patient few days back who came with back pain, radiating to his left leg. Dr. Harman Sobti said that he too had an extruded lumbar disc compressing his nerve root which was removed by the same technique & the patient became pain free immediately after surgery after which he was discharged walking the next day.

Dr. Sarvpreet Singh Grewal told the media that the department of Neurosurgery has started Specialized Spine OPD on Mondays & Fridays from 9am to 1pm for patients with spine problems. 

A rare key hole surgery at CMC Ludhiana

Wed, Sep 11, 2013 at 12:34 PM
Surgery for defective diaphragm (wall between chest and abdomen) 
Performed in a new born, 2.5 kg baby

Ludhiana, 11th September, 2013: (Shalu Arora and Rector Kathuria):A 2 week old baby with the weight of 2.5Kg was referred to Department of Paediatric Surgery CMC &Hospital Ludhiana with difficulty in breathing. Investigations at CMC& Hospital revealed that on left side of his chest, the diaphragm was defective and weak. Because of Eventration of Diaphragm baby’s abdominal organ like stomach, spleen and intestine were shifted in the chest and causing pressure on the opposite lung and heart, therefore the child was having difficulty in breathing and it was progressively increasing.
Dr William Bhatti, Professor& Head Department of Pediatric Surgery and his team doctors, Dr N Bedi, Dr A Gupta, Dr S Dhuria, Mr Karan(technologist) and Anaesthiologist Dr Sweethadid a successful Thoracoscopic repair of defective diaphragm(muscle wall between chest and abdomen) .By this technique, three0.3cm key holes were made in the chest, the weak and defective diaphragm was repaired.

TheThoracoscopic repair of a defective diaphragm, in a new born baby has been done for the first time in North India by this technique. Earlier these types of problems were managed by opening abdomen or chest. Birth defects in children can be managed effectively if parents and physician can identify birth defects well in time.

Dr Bhatti mentioned that operations by open techniques are painful for babies and recovery is delayed. Similar operations by Thoracoscopy or Laparoscopy are less painful, scars of the operation are negligible and the hospital stay is remarkably reduced.

Dr AG Thomas Director CMC & Hospital Ludhiana informed that earlier, this technique of operation by Thoracoscopes or Laparoscopes, in new born baby was available only in advance countries, but now this technique is availablein our hospital.

Brain injury: innovative ‘CMC-BEDI Turban’ Design

Wed, Jul 17, 2013 at 1:41 PM
Design helps in saving critical patient

Mrs Kuljeet Kaur (name changed) of Sarabha Nagar Ludhiana suffered from a rare disease – a massive swelling (aneurysm) of the arteries in the neck going to her brain and right hand. She had previously suffered a brain attack (stroke). She was now in imminent danger of rupture of the swollen arteries.

She was referred to Dr Harinder Singh Bedi – Head of Cardio Vascular & Thoracic Surgery at the CMC & H Ludhiana. On investigation it was realized that the treatment itself could cause a stroke as the repair of the artery would need a 5 minute time of clamping which would not have been tolerated as the brain was already in jeopardy.  Dr Bedi has trained in advanced cardiovascular techniques at the St Vincents Hospital in Sydney where he has operated upon cases with cooling of the whole body (hypothermia) to preserve organ function. It is a well known fact that any injury is better tolerated if the temperature of the injured organ is lowered. But here the problem was unique as the patient was elderly and the whole body cooling would not have been tolerated. So Dr Bedi then thought of cooling just the brain. He designed a unique cooling turban. This was constructed by Dr Melchi – cardiac anesthetist - and Mr William, Mr Jairus (who are the senior most perfusionists in Punjab) and Mr Mathew. Using their vast experience they were able to put the idea into practice. They made a turban like coil with plastic tubes. These were placed around the patients head after anesthesia. Now cold sterile water was pumped into these coils so that the head alone got cooled. The surgery was now done with the brain temperature low. Additionally Dr Bedi reimplanted a major vessel of the brain – the vertebral artery - so that as much blood as possible was given to the brain – this is a specially tricky and challenging part of the operation and is done very rarely. Mrs   Kaur did well and her brain function was preserved. The other members of the team during the marathon surgery were Dr S Garg, Dr Melchi, Dr Anish, Dr JaiPrakash, Dr Pearl , Dr Amrutha and Dr Rakhi   .

Dr Abraham G Thomas – Director of CMC & H - said that it was with such innovations that Indian surgeons were able to tackle otherwise hopeless cases. Dr Bedi said that they would patent the technique and publish it so that it could be used all over the world to help similar cases.



Dr Bedi can be contacted at 98140-60480 for any clarification

Photo: Dr Harinder Singh  Bedi along with Mr William Prem showing the ‘CMC-Bedi cool turban’  which helped save a patients brain

2.5 cms stone removed at CMC

Wed, Mar 6, 2013 at 11:59 AM 
A 3 year old Girl Child was suffering from pain

Ludhiana, 6th March, 2013:(Shalu Arora and Rector Kathuria):A 3 year old girl child, daughter of a labourer was suffering, with continuous pain in the lower abdomen and urinary infection for past threemonths. She was referred to the Department of Paediatric Surgery CMC and Hospital Ludhiana for further management. Investigations revealed that there was a 2.5 cms. long and 1.5 cms. thick,stone which was completely  obstructing the flow of urine from left kidney to urinary bladder and causing urinary infection and abdominal pain. Since there was no free flow of urine from kidney, there wasswelling and deterioration of kidney function with continuous abdominal pain.

Dr William Bhatti Professor &Head, Department of Paediatric Surgery and his teamdoctors, Dr N Bedi, Dr A Gupta and Dr S Dhuria, successfully performed laparoscopic removal of stone from the ureter. Theparents are happy as their daughter does not have a big operative scar on her abdomen and she ispain free because of the laparoscopic surgery. This type of operation, where the impacted stone at lower ureterovesical junction in a 3 year old child,was removed by laparoscopic operationis the first to be performed in India. So far this type of surgery has been done by open procedures which results in long scar marks and prolongedhospital stay. In laparoscopic surgery,the child will have 2-3 tiny scars of 5mm on their abdomen, with  less pain and shorter hospital stay as compared to open surgeries.

Dr William Bhatti further mentioned that presence of stones in urinary system is a common problem in children and it can be managed safely with laparoscopic operations. Parents should not ignore if their child complains of continuous abdominal pain and paediatric surgeons should be consulted immediately to prevent further complications.

A new success by Dr. H S Bedi at CMC Ludhiana

Rare major open heart surgery saves  a new life
Ludhiana, 16th July, 2012 (Shalu Arora and Rector Kathuria)

Mr Vikas Masih – a   35 year old teacher – was in a very serious condition. He had developed a large blood clot in his lungs – a condition called massive pulmonary embolism – due to which he was not able to breathe. He was referred to Dr Harinder Singh Bedi – Head of Cardio Vascular Endovascular & Thoracic Surgery at the Christian Medical College & Hospital, Ludhiana. On examination and investigation Dr Bedi realized that Mr Vikas was in imminent danger of death as his oxygen levels were dangerously low. This was damaging his brain and kidneys.
He had already been put on maximal medical therapy including the latest blood thinners at another hospital – but they did not work. The only option to save his life now was a major and rare open heart surgery called pulmonary thrombo-endarterectomy. Dr Bedi said that the surgery is done on a heart lung machine but additionally for a short period of time the circulation even through the heart lung machine has to be stopped. This is called circulatory arrest and is like totally stopping the heart and the lungs - both the natural and artificial ones.
Dr Bedi explained that this is because otherwise the blockage in the lungs cannot be seen clearly. During the tense 10 minutes while the patient was ‘clinically dead’ - on no circulation at all – his lungs were totally cleared of all the deadly clot. Dr Bedi is a pioneer in this field and in fact has trained in this rare surgery at the St Vincents Hospital in Sydney. However this was a very challenging case as Vikas is very young and this extent of disease was unexpected.
The other members of the Heart team are Dr A Joseph, Dr Sheetal Garg, Dr Melchi, Dr Paul, Dr Reenus ,  Dr Dinesh, Dr Pratap, Dr William, Dr Pearl,  Dr Savan, Dr Meenu, DR Nina and Dr Ashwin  . The heart lung machine was manned by Mr Jairus and Mr William – who are the senior most perfusionists of Punjab – along with Mr Mathew.
Dr Abraham G Thomas – Director of CMC & H – said that the CMC was committed to bringing the latest technology to Punjab so that the people of this area were given the best possible therapy.   A new success by Dr. H S Bedi at CMC Ludhiana