GMA DOING WELL AFTER 3rD SPINE SURGERY / DOCTORS HOPEFUL IT'S LAST SURGERY
[PHOTOS ON THIS PAGE TAKEN BEFORE GMA'S 3rd SURGERY AT ST LUKE'S HOSPITAL COURTESY OF GOOGLE IMAGES]
MANILA, AUGUST 27, 2011 (MALAYA) BY ASHZEL HACHERO - Doctors of former president and now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Arroyo yesterday said she is doing well after Wednesday's five-hour cervical spine surgery but she has to take a one-month leave from her duties in the House of Representatives.
Dr. Juliet Gopez-Cervantez, one of Arroyo's attending physicians, said the former president will remain in the intensive care unit for seven to 10 days before she is transferred to a regular room.
"She is in the intensive care or coronary care unit not because she is in critical condition but because we want her in a controlled environment," Gopez-Cervantes said.
She said Arroyo could be discharged in three to four weeks but "she has to be on leave for one month (from Congress) because of her difficulty in moving because of the halo vest (put to support her damaged cervical spine) which we cannot remove yet."
She said Arroyo is doing well, conscious and able to move and walk around but was advised to take general liquids or a soft diet. Only close family members are allowed to visit her.
Dr. Mario Ver said there are indications that Wednesday's operation would be the last major surgery on Arroyo.
"We were very happy with the procedure. Everything as planned happened. No problem was encountered. We were very happy with the outcome of the surgery," Ver said.
He said a "titanium mesh cage filled with bone graft was inserted as a strut anteriorly in her cervical vertebrae and were stabilized further with kick plates."
"I hope we are able to address all the issues, especially the quality of her bone. This is the last major surgery sa aming palagay," he added.
Ver said Arroyo will continue wearing a halo vest to enable the fusion of the bone graft taken from her pelvic bones. When the bone graft is fused, it will eventually replace the titanium implant and Arroyo's neck brace would be removed.
"Tatanggalin namin ang halo vest depende sa progress ng fusion. Yung normal fusion takes three to four weeks," he said, adding that all indicators point to a successful fusion.
He said the removal of the halo vest after the fusion would mean another minor surgery.
He admitted a fusion failure would be "very, very difficult" but he does not want to think about it.
Gopez-Cervantes clarified that Arroyo's titanium implants was not displaced by an infection in her neck but by "mechanical problem related with the quality of the bone" of the former president.
Arroyo's doctors earlier said she was suffering from hypoparathyroidism, a rare condition in which the body secretes abnormally low levels of parathyroid hormone, which regulates the balance of the body's calcium and phosphorus.
They said Arroyo's genetic make-up is very rare but there were already indications of her different bone quality as early as eight years ago.
Ver said the problem was managed by medicine and calcium supplements.
FROM PHILSTAR
Dislodged cervical spine implants on GMA successfully reconstructed By Aie Balagtas See (The Philippine Star) Updated August 26, 2011 12:00 AM
MANILA, Philippines - Doctors announced yesterday that the dislodged cervical spine implants on former President and now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo were successfully reconstructed after she underwent a third spine surgery that lasted for five hours on Wednesday.
Arroyo's team of doctors told reporters during a briefing at St. Luke's Medical Center (SLMC) in Taguig City that she could now move, walk, and talk.
Arroyo's chief physician Dr. Juliet Gopez-Cervantes said that Arroyo was also advised to go on leave for about a month to ensure her full recovery.
"She is very intelligent. She understands everything. You cannot even find in her the disappointment that these things happened," said Cervantes when asked how the former president responded to the series of operations.
Cervantes said that Arroyo, who is on "general liquid" diet, could resume her normal diet starting today.
She would remain confined at the coronary care unit of SLMC for seven to 10 days until her doctors feel that it's safe to transfer her to a regular room.
Dr. Mario Ver, the team's lead orthopedic surgeon, explained that the surgery was successful because they were able to reconstruct the dislodged implants on Arroyo's cervical vertebrae (bones near the skull) without encountering any infection.
The reconstruction involved the installation of a seven-centimeter long "bone mess cage" in the front portion of Arroyo's cervical spine. The cage, which looks like a tube with grills, was filled with bone graft from Arroyo's pelvic bones necessary for fusion or bone growth.
Ver said the main aim was to have fusion in areas which were replaced during Arroyo's first surgery last July 29.
The surgery was meant to relieve Arroyo from the intense pain caused by pinched nerves on her neck.
Ver said it might take about three to four weeks before the minimal result of the fusion could be seen. For now, Arroyo will continue wearing a "halo vest" to immobilize the movement of her neck.
A halo vest could make its user feel "very uncomfortable," Ver said.
Because of it, the former president is experiencing a hard time standing up or taking a bath. She had to be assisted by at least two nurses in getting out of bed.
Arroyo started using the vest after her doctors failed to reconstruct the dislodged implants during the second or "revision" surgery on Aug. 10.
Doctors initially presumed that infection was the source of the implant displacement. But further tests revealed that it was Arroyo's calcium problems that led to failure of implants, Cervantes said.
Cervantes said Arroyo had normal calcium levels before she underwent the July 29 surgery, but it decreased after the operation.
During examinations, doctors found that her parathyroid hormones, responsible for the body's calcium supply, were not functioning properly.
Arroyo's calcium needs are so far improving, said endocrinologist Dr. Robert Mirasol. But they have to continue monitoring to ensure that Arroyo's calcium level is sufficient for the success of the fusion.
Ver said once the fusion is successful, Arroyo would have to undergo another minor surgery to remove the halo vest pinned on her skull.
----------------------------------------------------------
Chief News Editor: Sol Jose Vanzi
© Copyright, 2011 by PHILIPPINE HEADLINE NEWS ONLINE
All rights reserved
----------------------------------------------------------
PHILIPPINE HEADLINE NEWS ONLINE [PHNO] WEBSITE
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
Follow us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/phnotweet
This is the PHILIPPINE HEADLINE NEWS ONLINE (PHNO) Mailing List.
To stop receiving our news items, please send a blank e-mail addressed to: phno-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
Please visit our homepage at: http://www.newsflash.org/
(c) Copyright 2009. All rights reserved.
-------------------------------------------------------------
