The doctors at Almazov Centre helped a woman get back on her feet after she had almost completely lost her ability to move during pregnancy due to a spinal tumor. The neurosurgical procedure was performed immediately after a successful C-section in a single anesthesia.
A 36-year-old woman in her 25th week of pregnancy began to experience decreased strength and diminished sensations in her legs. Despite treatment, the patient lost the ability to walk independently. The cause was a spinal tumor, a hemangioma, which had destroyed a thoracic vertebra and compressed the spinal cord.
In her 29th week of pregnancy, the patient was urgently transported from Veliky Novgorod to Almazov Centre. Upon admission, she could no longer move one leg and had very weak contractions in the other. The doctors advised that if the procedure is delayed, the spinal cord could suffer irreversible damage, which could result in the patient being unable to walk for the rest of her life.
Considering the indications for urgent neurosurgical treatment, the medical team determined that early delivery was the optimal course of action. At 29 weeks’ gestation, a boy weighing 1700 grams, measuring 39 cm, and exhibiting an Apgar score of 7/8 was delivered by cesarean section.
The neurosurgeons, under the guidance of Dr. Roman Kovalenko, proceeded to remove the tumor, fix the spinal column with implants and embolise the affected vertebra with bone cement. The surgery was successful, with positive dynamics noted the very next day after the procedure.
Following two weeks of treatment in the neurosurgery department, the patient continued her recovery in the rehabilitation unit, where she was taught to walk again. The patient is now able to walk independently, and her son has grown in the Perinatal Centre. To date, the child is steadily gaining weight. He and his mother were discharged from the neonatal special care department on April 28th.