Surgery successful for man with folded spine

Jiang Yanchen, a 21-year-old man from Dezhou, Shandong province, who once lived with his upper body severely deformed, was discharged from a hospital in Sichuan province recently after four surgeries successfully straightened his spine.

In a moving moment, Jiang, using assistive devices, stood up and took brief steps on his own at a news conference held on Monday afternoon at Chengdu BOE Hospital to announce the success of the world's first corrective surgery for a person with a severe reverse folding spine deformity.

Jiang was in critical condition when he came to the hospital in Chengdu, Sichuan, in August 2024 to seek medical treatment from Liang Yijian, a renowned expert in severe spinal deformities.

The extreme reverse folding of his spine had severely compressed his chest and abdominal cavities, squeezing his organs into a tiny space. He also suffered from respiratory failure, with oxygen levels in his blood far below normal, putting him at constant risk of brain edema or coma due to blood acidosis, Liang said.

When Jiang was 2 years old, he walked on his toes without his heels touching the ground and was unable to squat down on his own. He underwent a tendon lengthening procedure, but what seemed at first like a minor episode in his growth soon gave way to a far more difficult challenge.

Initially, his backward-tilting head could still be gently straightened with assistance, but over time, his neck gradually stiffened. By the time he was in junior high school, his body bent backward in an extreme reverse fold, with his head nearly touching his hips, leaving a gap of less than a palm's width between them.

"Without surgery, his condition was likely fatal. With surgery, the risks were extremely high, but there was hope," Liang said. He described the operation as far more complex than standard spinal corrections, calling it "the ceiling of surgical difficulty".

Adding to the challenge was that Jiang's bone density was even lower than that of a typical 60-year-old woman. The surgical team had to prepare for numerous potential emergencies, including anesthesia complications, respiratory issues, major bleeding, paralysis and circulatory failure.

From December last year to June this year, Liang and his team performed four surgeries on Jiang, ultimately correcting approximately 170 degrees of curvature.

"He is an incredibly strong man," Liang said. "Despite his severe disability, he studied hard and passed the national college entrance exam. He showed tremendous perseverance, adhering to more than six hours of daily rehabilitation, which was very demanding."

Though his condition was worsening, Jiang learned to adapt to his physical changes, managing daily tasks such as getting dressed and brushing his teeth on his own. At school, he knelt on his chair, constantly adjusting his posture to see the blackboard clearly.

Yu Meiying, his mother, offered her full support. Teachers and classmates also lent a helping hand, with two students assigned to assist him up and down the stairs daily.

Jiang completed high school and took the national college entrance exam lying face down on a yoga mat in 2022. He was admitted to Dezhou University in the city.

"I hope next year when I return for a follow-up medical check, I can walk to see pandas on my own," Jiang said.

He is now preparing to return to the university campus he has long missed and has already started making plans to pursue postgraduate studies.

"The surgery goes beyond helping one patient stand up straight; it also provides a reproducible diagnosis and treatment path for similar cases around the world," Liang said.

The team is compiling clinical data and technical details from the four operations and plans to share their experiences through international medical journals.

zhaoruixue@chinadaily.com.cn