By LARA PICKFORD-GORDON and INDARJIT SEURAJ Friday, August 7 2009

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OFF TO SURGERY: British citizen Murium Greene as she was wheeled into the operating theatre at the EWMSC in Mt Hope yesterday. ...

MURIUM Greene yesterday underwent surgery to repair her jaw which was fractured in last Saturday’s cutlass attack at her vacation home in Tobago. The surgery, done at the Eric Williams Medical Sciences Complex (EWMSC) in Mt Hope, which lasted for several hours, was deemed a success by doctors.

During the surgery, which started at 10 am, a titanium plate was implanted in her jaw bone and the procedure was reportedly done without any complications. An endo-tracheal tube was inserted in her throat during the surgery. This is used to ensure the airway is not closed and air can reach the lungs. Apart from not being able to speak because of the tube, Greene was said to be “doing fine”.

Newsday learnt that up to 5.30 pm, Greene had not come out of the surgical theatre. According to a source, patients may be kept in a recovery area near the theatre until they regain consciousness from the anaesthetic. They are then taken to their ward.

Dr Azard Ashraph, Maxillofacial surgeon, told Newsday that Greene should have no problems after the surgery. He is not Greene’s surgeon but provided a medical perspective on the corrective work to be done. Ashraph described fractured bones as being like a jigsaw.

“The bones have a certain shape. It will only fit into the correct places in the correct position. Once that is done, the plate is put in to hold the bones in position.”

Ashraph said if there is need for “slight” adjustments after surgery an “arch bar” (a wire, bar, or splints conforming to the arch of the teeth, extending from one side of the arch to the other) secured with elastic bands will be put in “to pull the teeth together”. Arch bars are used for treating jaw fractures and stabilising injured teeth. He said the site stabilised for four to six weeks.

Murium’s husband Peter, 65, remains in a critical but stable condition. He was still in a comatose state at the Intensive Care Unit, after doctors placed him in a medically induced coma to treat swelling and bleeding in his brain.

The retirees of Wellington in Somerset, England were beaten and chopped at their vacation home in Bacolet, Tobago at about 2 pm last Saturday.