Doctor courageously leads way in spinal surgery

Every day, patients with complicated spinal tumors come all the way to Shanghai's Zhongshan Hospital to see Dr Dong Jian, because he is their last hope.

The sisters of a 35-year-old man suffering low-limb paralysis due to a spinal tumor have expressed their gratitude to Dong, who took a very high risk to conduct the surgery.

The patient, surnamed He, went to Zhongshan after the first paralysis last year, as the lung cancer has spread to the spine.

Dr Dong Jian conducted the surgery to remove the tumor pressing on the spine. The patient was able to stand and walk again.

He suffered a second flare of paralysis early this year and received a major operation in a local hospital, which failed to solve the problem. He also had severe back pain.

"With the last slim of hope, we came to Dr Dong Jian, who said it is a very very risky surgery," said He's sister. "But we decided to have a try, even though there was a 0.001 percent of chance."

Ti Gong

Dong said he had to try his best because of patient and family's trust.

"They spent 19 hours in coming to Shanghai," he said. "Since they didn't give up, we doctors must take the risk."

Dong's team had a strong and hot discussion of the case. Many doctors opposed the surgery due to the risk as well as the poor outcome based on previous clinical experience.

But Dong didn't hesitate and encouraged the patient to cooperate with medics to carry out profound preparation. With the improvement of He's physical condition, the surgery was conducted early this month.

"Because of the special position of the tumor in the spine, the patient can die due to huge massive hemorrhage on the table or serious infection including central nervous system infection and pulmonary infection," Dong said. "But we did it. During the some 90-minute surgery, we removed the entire tumor, which caused his second lower paralysis."

The family expressed their extreme gratitude to Dong and his team, which took such a big risk to fulfil the surgery.

" My brother's muscle started to contract four days after surgery, and his back pain disappeared with conditions getting better day by day," the patient's sister said.

Spinal tumor is the most difficult operation in the field of spinal surgery. Dong Jian has involved in the major for more than 30 years and created many "firsts" and "bests".

To reduce patients' expenses, he led the team to carry out equipment renovation and push the domestic industrialization of medical appliances. Dong is also actively involved in scientific education to promote the knowledge of spinal health and disease prevention and control.