AGREED TO OPERATE ONLY AT THE HADASSAH CLINIC AND SAVED THE PATIENT
Lilia Altshul (73) was suffering from severe back pain, a problem with her spine almost led to paralysis. In all the clinics of the center of Israel, the specialists refused to perform a surgery on the spine. As per their words it was impossible to do anything. However, the leading spinal surgeon at the Hadassah University Hospital, Dr. Josh Schroeder, was not afraid to take responsibility and performed a complex surgery, eliminating the danger and returning Lilia to normal life.
Lilia Altshul and Dr. Josh Schroeder
Dr. Schroeder discovered a very serious infection in Lilia’s spine, which caused severe pressure on the nerves and would soon lead to complete paralysis. Already on examination, the patient could only move her head. An urgent surgery was needed. Unfortunately, it turned out that the woman suffered from a number of concomitant diseases, and full anesthesia, common in such complex surgeries, is contraindicated for her. That is why, apparently, the doctors did not want to operate on her in other clinics. However, Lilia was lucky: The Hadassah Clinic is the only medical center in Israel where complex spinal surgeries are performed under local anesthesia.
It was a wonderful and very revealing example of the excellent and well-coordinated work of a team of specialists: the anesthesiologist Dr. Ruhi Hashem, the head of the brain catheterization department, prof. Jose Cohen and the spinal surgeon Dr. Josh Schroeder. Together, the doctors managed to get rid of the infection and perform non-invasive percutaneous fixation of the spine using microscopic screws and rods.
“As the surgery took place in an innovative hybrid brain catheterization center, in which the operating room is combined with a catheterization room and has the most advanced medical equipment, we were able to constantly monitor the patient’s condition during the entire process and take several pictures of the spine. Here, the surgical intervention is much faster and more accurate than in other operating rooms,” said Dr. Schroeder.
“This is just a miracle! We are very grateful to the whole team of doctors who put my mother on her feet!” – emotionally says Lilia’s daughter Diana.
