Doctors at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) here haverejoined a 10-year-old boy's broken spinal cord, hospital authorities saidSaturday, terming it as a "first-of-its-kind case".

The boy, Premchand from Firozabad in Uttar Pradesh, fell while playing in afield and the moving blades of a tractor's harrow went over his back cuttinghis vertebral column into two.

He was brought to the AIIMS Trauma Centre Sep 4 and immediately operated uponafter five hospitals said they could not treat him. Nine months later, he isback on his feet and walking without help.

At AIIMS a team of doctors performed the rare surgery lasting over eight hours.

D.B. Choudhary, senior consultant orthopaedic surgeon at AIIMS, said: "Thechild was in a state of shock due to blood loss and had two deep wounds on theback with active leak of cerebrospinal fluid and rib fracture.

"His entire spine was fragmented in two parts. Initially he was givenblood and treated with other medicines to prevent meningitis," he added.

Claiming it a medical feat, AIIMS Trauma Centre chief M.C. Mishra said: "Ihave done extensive research and can conclude that it is a first-of-its-kindcase in medical history. Such a case with sharp penetrating injury to the spinein a child causing complete breakage of the lumbar spine in two partspresenting with complete loss of power and sensations is extremely unusual andhas not been reported in literature either."

The child started responding and felt sensations only a month after his surgeryand now after nine months he is able to walk with minimal assistance. He iscurrently undergoing rehabilitation physiotherapy. "We are expecting himto recover soon," Deepak Gupta, one of the doctors who operated upon theboy, told reporters. "There is no threat of infection."

Urging small hospitals to refer such critical cases directly to the AIIMS,Choudhary said the Trauma Centre is capable of handling difficult cases.Referring to Premchand's treatment, he said: "It is another miraclecarried out at AIIMS."