Indian-origin surgeon re-attaches British man''s head to spine

London, May 24

A 29-year-old British man, who had his head ripped from his spine in a horrific car crash, has miraculously survived after a rare operation done by an Indian-origin doctor.

A team of surgeons helped the man survive after his head snapped off from his spine in the crash. They re-attached his skull to his spine in a rare surgery, a media report said on Sunday.

Neurosurgeon Anant Kamat led the critical surgery, re-attaching Tony Cowan's skull to his spine with a metal plate and bolts in a rare operation. Now, Cowan hopes to go home soon, Mirror online reported.

Cowan from Newcastle city met with an accident on September 9 last year, when his car hit a speed-bump, spun out of control and wrapped around a telephone pole.

His heart stopped and he had to be resuscitated by paramedics at the scene before being rushed to a hospital. Cowan sustained a fracture in his neck and complete spinal cord injury -- an injury medics describe as almost "unsurvivable".

Cowan, however, was not brain-damaged though his head was snapped off from his spine and it was only being held in place by tissue and muscle at the time of crash. Agencies