Dubai man credits surgeon for saving his life

Said Salem Saif Al Kaabi suffered multiple spine fractures when his car rammed into a pavement, leaving him severely injured. The 21-year-old was unable to move for a couple of hours and was in a life-threatening situation. One wrong manoeuvre while being transported to hospital could have led to complete paralysis.
Luckily, he landed in the right hands. Dr Hassan Kadri, consultant neuro & spine surgeon at Medcare, took over the challenging case. Incredibly, he not only managed to treat the man with minimally invasive spine surgery but the procedure was so successful that Said could walk directly after surgery and fixation.
"I was first taken to Hatta hospital, from where I was sent to the Rashid Hospital. I was finally referred to Medcare to ensure that all my surgical requirements were met, considering that I needed a very specialised treatment for my spine," Said told Khaleej Times.
Explaining his condition, Dr Kadri said: "He had multiple wounds and injuries on his skull, ankle and limbs and suffered a major fracture in this spine (D-12 vertebrae, middle of the back). This is a high-risk fracture in the back."
The tricky part was that the fracture was compressing the spinal cord. Any sort of wrong movement or faulty manipulation of the patient while being removed from the accident site or while being transported could have resulted in paralysis of the limbs (both arms and legs).
Close to 50 per cent of people who are brought to the hospital after an accident suffer from a spine injury due to incorrect manipulation and transportation. "If a person is in an accident, and is conscious, the first thing to ensure is that there is as less movement as possible to reduce further damage," Dr Kadri said.
"When Said arrived at the hospital, he was still conscious, so we could talk to him and assess what he was feeling."
Given the urgency of the situation, Said was taken for an emergency surgery, which was a very delicate process, as this was an 'unstable' fracture. The main aim of the surgery was to decompress the spine and remove the pressure as quickly as possible to avoid any life-threatening complications.
"I had to use techniques that were not invasive in nature. To manage the fracture, we used a closing technique where we fused the broken vertebra with the upper vertebra and lower vertebra. Screws and rod implants were used to hold the broken vertebra in place.
"The three-hour surgery worked out well and Said was able to walk the same day his surgery was done. He was in the hospital for a few days for us to monitor his other wounds and injuries. But the key fracture to his back was completely fixed."
After such a surgery, Said had been advised to not bend, or lift anything, or avoid any sudden jerky movement for about six weeks. Expressing his gratefulness to Dr Kadri, Said told Khaleej Times that he is recovering well now, and that his implants will be removed after a year.
- saman@khaleejtimes.com