‘Anjali Technique’ devised by Dr. Avinash Haridas of KVM Hospital Cherthala for simplifying complex spine surgery was presented at the World Congress of Neurosurgery organised by the World Federation of Neurosurgical Societies at Cape Town in South Africa recently.
According to Dr. Haridas, Anjali Technique is a fully manual operative technique for achieving robotic spinal fixation precision. It uses 3-dimensional intra-operative CT scan guidance.
Complex spine surgery involves putting stabilizing screws in the pedicle of vertebrae and minor errors can result in extremely serious neurological complications. “To perform this surgery with near total safety requires the use of very expensive neuro-navigation machines or robotic spinal navigation machines. Neuro-navigation machines are available in a small number of neurological centres around the world and robotic spinal navigation machines are even more rare.
“As such most neurosurgeons rely on x-ray C-arm guidance or a free-hand technique to place spinal screws. This technique is prone to errors and complications. It is possible to do this operation with the same safety and accuracy as robotic navigation or neuro-navigation machines using 3-dimensional intra-operative CT scan, desktop software and using one’s brain,” says, Dr. Haridas.
Earlier, he presented the technique at the annual meeting of the Serbian Neurosurgical Society held last month and at a meeting of the Continental Association of African Neurosurgical Societies held in Kenya in 2022.
