Shillong: The North Eastern Indira Gandhi Regional Institute of Health and Medical Sciences (NEIGRIHMS), Shillong, has achieved a milestone in advanced spine care by performing a unilateral biportal endoscopic (UBE) spine surgery on a patient suffering from lumbar disc prolapse.“The procedure is believed to be the first UBE discectomy performed in a govt healthcare institution in northeast India,” a NEIGRIHMS statement said on Thursday. The patient, from Assam, had lumbar disc prolapse that was compressing a spinal nerve. Unlike conventional open spine surgery, which requires a larger incision and greater disruption of surrounding muscles, UBE surgery uses small incisions and an endoscope to provide a magnified view of the spinal structures, NEIGRIHMS said.“Compared with conventional open or microscope-assisted procedures, the technique is designed to minimise tissue disruption while allowing precise visualisation and decompression of the affected nerve,” the NEIGRIHMS statement stated.NEIGRIHMS director Prof. Nalin Mehta said the introduction of UBE spine surgery marked an advancement in the availability of minimally invasive and endoscopic spine surgery in the public healthcare sector in the northeast. “It also provides patients from the region to access this advanced spine procedures closer to home. This milestone reflects NEIGRIHMS’ continuing efforts to introduce modern surgical technologies...,” he said.The surgery was performed by the orthopaedics department, led by Dr Sachlang Debbarma. The operation was carried out under the guidance of departmental head Prof (Dr) Bhaskar Borgohain.
