Endoscopic Endonasal Odontoidectomy Treatment in India

Sneha Roy, a 58-year-old retired schoolteacher...

Sneha Roy, a 58-year-old retired schoolteacher and avid gardener, began experiencing a persistent, electric-shock-like pain in her neck and shoulders whenever she looked down to tend to her roses. Over months, this progressed to weakness in her hands, making it difficult to write letters to her grandchildren. An MRI revealed a severe compression of her brainstem by a bony overgrowth at the top of her spine, a condition called basilar invagination. Her neurosurgeon, Dr. Mehta, explained that the odontoid bone was pressing into her spinal cord and that an Endoscopic Endonasal Odontoidectomy was the least invasive way to remove it and relieve the pressure. Terrified of traditional 'open' spine surgery, Sneha was comforted by the idea of no external scars. The surgery, performed through her nose, was successful. After a week in the hospital, she began gentle physical therapy. Within three months, the shocking pains were gone, and she could hold a pen steadily again. Her emotional journey was from fear of permanent disability to profound gratitude; she felt she had been given back her independence and her simple joys, like gardening and writing, without the visible reminder of a major operation.