March 24 is observed as World TB Day to raise public awareness to end world TB epidemic
Bhubaneswar, March 24: Spinal Tuberculosis (TB) constitutes a significant portion of overall TB cases in India. While the goal is eradication of the disease by 2025, KIMS Bhubaneswar has stepped up efforts to realize this objective with advanced care.
“We at KIMS Super Speciality Hospital are dealing with all types of spine surgery cases like spinal degenerative, deformities, tumours and spinal infections. Any patient coming with spinal disorders is welcome as we are a leading hospital in the entire state,” said Senior Consultant and Orthopaedic and Spine Surgeon Dr Jitendra Kumar Rout on the occasion of World TB Day.
Dr Rout, who is also the secretary of Spine Society of Odisha, has performed numerous spine surgeries at KIMS Super Specialty Hospital, and is trained in advanced spine surgery from many reputed centres of India and abroad.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), more than 2.20 lakh people in India alone died of the disease in 2020. An air borne disease, the Mycobacterium tuberculosis, (a bacteria) affects almost all organs in the human body and targets immune-compromised and malnourished individuals. The NTEP (National Tuberculosis Eradication Programme) has already set a target to eliminate the disease by 2025.
Dr Rout, a fellow in spine surgery from Sir Ganga Ram Hospital New Delhi, reminded of the vision of the Founder of KIIT-KISS Dr Achyuta Samanta, saying KIMS Super Speciality unit has made it possible to treat many rare and unique procedures in spine in Odisha. He said awareness on Spine TB is a must for all in the society.
Spinal tuberculosis, also known as Pott’s Disease, is one of the common types of TB affecting the bones. It is diagnosed with skin or blood tests, tissue culture and imaging. Spinal TB comes with symptoms like fever, stiffness, back pain and muscle spasms. Spinal TB can cause neurological deficits, nerve root pain, and paralysis (neither leg can move).
The treatment includes anti TB therapy (ATT) medication and, sometimes surgery to treat spine damage. However, advancement in this field has helped patients immensely.
With the improvement of diagnostic technology and the application of surgical technique by trained spine surgeons spinal TB treatment has improved significantly. KIMS Super Speciality Hospital has got all the state-of-art instruments to deal with all complex spinal TB cases.“Recently, the development of multidrug-resistant TB, frequency of infection in immune-deficient individuals, more accurate imaging modalities, and advances in spinal reconstruction techniques have all changed the management of Pott’s Disease,” Dr Rout said. He is trained from Malaya University, Malayasia and is an Executive Committee member of Association of Spine Surgeons of India.
