ABBOTTABAD: An Afghan teenage girl underwent a successful spinal surgery for scoliosis at the Neurosurgery Department of the Ayub Teaching Hospital here on Thursday.

The doctors claimed that it was the first successful scoliosis surgical procedure in any government hospital of the province.

They said Shakeela Bibi, 17, was operated upon for around eight hours by ATH neurosurgeons Dr Abdul Aziz Khan and Dr Ehtisham Afridi, who were assisted by Dr Khalid Zadran, Dr Sajjad, anesthetists and technicians.

Dr Abdul Aziz said the girl had suffered from an acute backache due to scoliosis, a medical condition in which a person’s spine had a sideways curve.

He said the problem affected girls more severely than boys. Dr Ehtisham said the girl came to the neurosurgery OPD complaining about backbone deformity and severe backache.

“We put 18 screws of titanium in the bone around her spine during eight hours long surgery to correct the curvature using two rods of one foot each. Now, she’s completely stable and will be able to walk within one to two weeks,” he said.

Published in Dawn, December 28th, 2018