Q: My 24-year-old younger brother had an accident five months back. His backbone disk no. 5 developed a crack and T5 was fractured. Also, his spinal card is not working. Please suggest a line of treatment for this. What are the expenses going to be like?

A:Paralysis after compression fracture is a difficult problem. Depending on the severity of involvement and damage to the neuronal tissue recovery may or may not be possible. If the spinal cord is completely damaged, then it is not possible to have any return of function. Research on recovery is going on in different parts of the world, however, barring some animal experiment breakthrough with stem cells, there has been no substantial clinical breakthrough. We are hopeful that tomorrow holds some promise. In partial damage to the cord, patient may benefit from rehabilitation procedures including care for bowel and bladder. This is available in various spinal injury centres across the world. Cost entirely depends on which part of the world you are in.