A spinal operation to install an innovative implant was performed in Vitebsk
The patient who underwent surgery had spinal osteomyelitis, primarily affecting the intervertebral disc, with complications in the form of inflammation. He could walk, but experienced severe and prolonged pain during movement, and this pain syndrome was not relieved, which became an indication for surgical treatment. The surgeon removed the inflammatory elements that were compressing neural structures, performed decompression of the neural structures, and installed the implant.
Artem Kornilov has been involved in the surgery of purulent-inflammatory spinal diseases since 2016, when he entered the master's program at his alma mater. These diseases are problematic. Now, thanks to the development by a team of surgeons from VSMU, there have been breakthroughs in this area, the number of operations has increased, and there is positive dynamics in the treatment of patients who typically suffer from prolonged pain syndrome.
"The grant was awarded for the implementation in surgical practice of a combined implant manufactured using cell technologies, which is installed in place of removed bone sections with purulent lesions. Cells are taken directly from the patient's own body for it. It will be able to integrate most tightly with the spinal column and create a strong bone block, allowing for earlier rehabilitation, among other things. Unlike other implants, for example, titanium ones, it will have better engraftment and will allow a person to start walking earlier, and will generally improve their quality of life. We have filed a patent application for this development," said Artem Kornilov.
Artem Kornilov
He and his colleagues will also be involved in developing a project for clinical recommendations on the treatment of purulent-inflammatory spinal diseases in patients with diabetes mellitus. "We treat 40 to 50 patients per year with suppurative spinal diseases and a confirmed diagnosis of diabetes mellitus. As a rule, they have several concomitant diseases and pathologies. Among this category of patients, there is a high mortality rate, so we will conduct research on both predictors, i.e., causes of occurrence, and treatment methods," noted the grant recipient.
The Candidate of Medical Sciences added that patients with purulent spinal diseases often come to him and his colleagues in an advanced stage, when people cannot walk for a year or suffer from severe pain for a long time. After surgical intervention, the surgeon monitors the dynamics and pays great attention to rehabilitation. "As a rule, such diseases appear when purulent infections are carried by the blood from a diseased organ. For example, we had a patient with a purulent lung disease, his damaged lobes were removed, but then he came with a complaint of back pain. It turned out that the inflammatory process began in the thoracic spine, where another operation was performed. Staphylococcus aureus can also be a source of the disease. In patients with diabetes mellitus, who generally have weakened immunity, the infection can penetrate even through a small external wound - a cut, a scratch. The scope of research in this area is extensive, and we are, one might say, still at the initial stage," Artem Kornilov shared his prospects in the topic to which he has already devoted more than five years.