Rare surgery frees 16-year-old from dwarfism

A 16-year-old boy successfully underwent a rare surgery at a city hospital here, freeing him from the curse of dwarfism.

Snehal Tirkhey, suffering from achondroplasia - a form of dwarfism - was just 3 feet tall as his legs were disproportionately short.

A team of doctors at the Indraprasta Apollo Hospital conducted on him a long and extensive treatment process called Illizarov technique, a type of external fixation used in orthopaedic surgery to lengthen or reshape limb bones. As a result, his height increased by 12 inches.

Achondroplasia is a rare bone related disease which is found roughly in one in 25,000 people. The average height of an adult with achondroplasia is just 52 inches.

"We are glad that with procedure that lasted nine months, we have been able to give the young boy a chance to lead a relatively normal life. His arms and legs are now in perfect proportion to each other," said Rajeev K. Sharma, senior consultant, department of orthopaedics, Indraprastha Apollo.

"The patient now will undergo a rehabilitation and extensive physiotherapy," he said.