Chooramani technique: A novel method of omental transposition in traumatic spinal cord injury

BACKGROUND: Spinal cord injury often results in significant catastrophic disability. Placement of the intact omentum upon a recently traumatized spinal cord was found to be effective. It represents a very suitable organ for revascularization of the ischemic nervous tissue, due to its abundance in blood and lymph vessels and its capability to adhere to the surface of the lesion, with capillary overgrowing in 4-6 h. The traditional method of omentum transposition is a hectic and time-consuming two-stage procedure in which position is changed twice. The major disadvantage of this two-staged procedure is that it takes longer operative time, and there is high risk of infection due to change of position with an open wound. So there is a need for modifications so that the procedure can be made easier and complications can be avoided. OBJECTIVE: To avoid the complications and to make the procedure easier, a single-staged procedure called ‘chooramani technique’ for omental transposition in spinal cord injury is proposed. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The study was conducted on 16 patients of post-traumatic thoraco-lumbar spinal cord injury with paraplegia. RESULTS: Complications like wound infection, incisional hernia, and CSF leak were avoided. Operative time reduced to approximately half. CONCLUSION: This modification of technique is relatively easy and can be adopted for patients undergoing omental transposition for spinal cord injury.