A 15-year-old girl from Iraq with extremely complicated case of Kyphoscoliosis successfully underwent a rare spinal surgery in a Gurugram hospital, a doctor said on June 29.

The surgery that went on for about four hours was performed by Arun Saroha and his surgical team at Gurugram's Max Hospital, who were able to correct 70 per cent of the deformity after the surgery. Kyphoscoliosis is a spinal deformity where body structure is affected due to the abnormal curvature of the vertebral column.

The girl had been suffering from the defect since birth and with time, her condition became more critical, leaving her completely bed-ridden with restricted movement. Her failing health needed immediate medical help but since there was lack of medical infrastructure and resources in her native country, her family decided to come to India to avail the facilities. "It was a very complicated case of developmental spinal defect where patient was in debilitating condition with major movement issues. Patient was taken for surgery after briefing the patient's family about details of the procedure," said doctor Saroha.

"The corrective surgery needed 15 screws bolted on her spine to restore the curvature. After hours of intensive surgery, the spine curvature of the girl has returned to near normal range. These types of corrective procedure require one year of follow-up post-surgery," Saroha said. Other than birth defect, kyphoscoliosis can also be caused due to hereditary factors, non-symmetrical length of legs, poor posture or neuromuscular issues like cerebral palsy (CP) or muscular dystrophy.