Link to original article: http://www.nysy.com.cn/Cn/NewsView.aspx?id=1238 Recently, a multidisciplinary team from our hospital found the cause of a patient with numbness in both lower limbs for more than 3 months and performed a radical surgery for him. Mr. Shen, a 57-year-old patient from Chaozhou, Guangdong Province, came to our neurology department with “numbness and weakness in both lower limbs for more than 3 months”. Deputy Director Luo Yifeng and Dr. Zeng Qingjian carefully examined the patient, formulated a strict treatment plan, combined with the patient’s medical history and examination results, and quickly found the cause of the patient, considering that the nerve compression caused by multiple occupying lesions in both lungs and thoracic spine led to numbness and weakness in both lower limbs, and recommended immediate surgery. Zhang Lixi, Department of Thoracic Surgery, The Third Affiliated Hospital of Southern Medical University After a multidisciplinary consultation of thoracic surgery, spine surgery and neurosurgery, Mr. Shen was transferred from neurology to thoracic surgery. Deputy Director of Thoracic Surgery Peng Jiangzhou believed that the patient had double lung occupancy, destruction of thoracic spine and high possibility of tuberculosis. Director Zhang Lixi attached great importance to the patient’s condition, and after a comprehensive evaluation, he considered that the patient’s condition was complex, with multiple pathologies and unknown nature. If the patient was not operated as soon as possible to relieve the spinal compression symptoms, there was a possibility of paralysis; however, if the patient had active tuberculosis, emergency surgery might lead to a series of complications such as tuberculosis dissemination and postoperative incision failure. Finally, after the collective discussion of the whole department, it was unanimously decided that standardized anti-tuberculosis treatment should be given first and surgery should be performed after the lesions were stabilized. On October 21, Director Zhang Lixi organized a preoperative discussion with the Department of Thoracic Surgery and the Department of Bone Oncology to study and formulate a meticulous surgical plan. On the next day, the Department of Thoracic Surgery and the Department of Bone Oncology performed the simultaneous surgery for Mr. Shen, with Deputy Director Peng Jiangzhou of the Department of Thoracic Surgery and Director Li Haomiao of the Department of Bone Oncology as the chief surgeons, assisted by Liu Degang of the Department of Thoracic Surgery and Dr. Dai Shuangwu of the Department of Bone Oncology. The intraoperative frozen pathology results suggested granulomatous inflammation (in the left upper and lower lung and lumbar spinal canal) and considered tuberculosis. After the operation, the thoracic surgery department gave routine treatment and standardized anti-tuberculosis treatment after lung surgery. Director Li Haomiao visited the thoracic surgery ward for many times to guide the postoperative care of thoracic spine, and with the joint efforts of medical and nursing staff of thoracic surgery department and bone oncology department, the patient recovered well and went down to the ground on the third postoperative day with pads, without numbness and weakness of both lower limbs, without any postoperative complications, and is now discharged from the hospital and continues standardized He is now discharged from the hospital and continues the standard anti-tuberculosis treatment. This time, the multidisciplinary cooperation among neurology, thoracic surgery and bone oncology not only found the real cause of “numbness and weakness of both lower limbs” for Mr. Shen, but also successfully and completely removed the tuberculosis foci in the lung and thoracic spine, completely curing the disease for the patient. The successful cure of this case fully demonstrated the strong comprehensive strength of our hospital and the spirit of cooperation between internal and external disciplines.