Complex Spinal Issues
Dr Paul Thng Leong Keng 
MBBS (Singapore)
FRCS (Edin)
FRCS (Glas)
More Examples of Other Spine Procedures
Cervical Disc replacement for a prolapsed cervical disc
A 39 year old male presents with right arm symptoms on and off for 4 years. Despite different physical therapies, his symptoms progressively worsened. He opted for a cervical disc replacement with a favourable outcome
Posterior Neck Surgery in a 68 year old following a fall, causing a neck fracture-dislocation at C4/5 and C7.
The post-operative X-rays were taken at 3 months after the incident.
Minimally invasive lumbar spine surgery (MIS TLIF)
A 65 year old lady with spinal compression, causing weakness and numbness of her lower limbs, left worse than the right. Walking became a burden and she needed to rest every 5-10 mins. Despite multiple occasions and different types of therapy there was no significant long term improvement. A minimally invasive decompression (“freeing of the nerve”) and stabilization was performed with a good outcome, with walking tolerance improvement to 60 mins at 1 year post op.
Scoliosis case or “curved spine”
21 year old lady with a curved spine since childhood, noted that in recent years was getting worse. She also experienced intermittent back pain. She opted to go for correction surgery. Post operation she felt that had gained 3 cm in height.
Progressive weakness or cervical myelopathy
A 85 year old gentleman who was suffering from progressive weakness and numbness of all 4 limbs over 4 years. He initially declined surgery because of fears of the risks. He reached a stage where he could not use his hands even to feed himself and needed to move around in a wheelchair. Post surgery he made a good recovery with the ability of independent home walking and self care.
Minimally invasive surgery for spinal fractures
An unfortunate 25 year old gentleman was involved in an accident as a motorcyclist and suffered multiple injuries (chest and abdomen, limb fractures) including 3 level fractures of the spine. The fractures were stabilized in the minimally invasive fashion and the implants were subsequently removed, with a good recovery
Please note that surgical outcomes may vary from patient to patient
Dr Paul Thng Leong Keng
Dr. Thng has been recognized for his work internationally and has been invited to demonstrate live spine surgical and operative skills in several countries.
- Senior Consultant and Medical Director, PTL Spine & Orthopaedics Clinic
- Visiting Senior Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon, Changi General Hospital
- Adjunct Associate Professor, National University Hospital
- Trustee, AO Foundation
- Associate Editor, Global Spine Journal
- Scientific Reviewer, Singapore Medical Journal and Annuals of the Academy
Dr Paul Thng Leong Keng is a fellowship-trained orthopaedic surgeon subspecializing in spinal surgery. Based on hospital OTM records from 2003-2013, he performed over 3000 operations and over 1200 spine procedures, both open and minimally invasive. He has held various prestigious positions such as the Head of Spine service at Changi General Hospital, Chairman of AOSpine East Asia, and Executive Member of AOSpine International Board.
Dr. Thng has been recognized for his work internationally and has been invited to demonstrate live spine surgical and operative skills in several countries. He continues to contribute to the field through research and serves as an associate editor of the Global Spine Journal.
PTL Spine & Orthopaedics
Mount Elizabeth Novena Specialist Centre
38 Irrawaddy Road #07-34
Singapore 329563
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