A neurosurgery team at a hospital in Jaipur successfully removed a brain tumour of a 30-year-old man while he was awake throughout the three-hour surgery and recited the Hanuman Chalisa.
The surgery at Narayana Multispeciality Hospital on the man, suffering from repeated epilepsy seizures, was done through a unique neuro-surgical procedure – ‘Awake Craniotomy’ or ‘Awake Brain Surgery’.
A few other hospitals had refused to conduct surgery on Hulasmal Jangir of Bikaner, citing enormous chances of loss of speech and possible paralysis upon operation. He then came to Narayana Multispeciality Hospital wherein the neurosurgery team, led by senior consultant Dr KK Bansal, successfully performed the ‘Awake Brain tumour Surgery’ on the patient.
Awake brain surgeries are done by select neurosurgeons across the globe to remove tumours that are located close to areas that control vision, speech and body movements. In the patient’s case, the tumour was in that area of the brain which controls speech. Even a slight error while performing the surgery would have led to speech impairment for life.
“Monitoring response in a conventional brain surgery is not possible, as the patient is sedated. In awake brain surgery, the patient’s response can be continuously monitored, which helps the surgeon to ascertain the exact spot without damaging other areas of the brain. In this patient’s case he was continuously asked to read, sing or recite the Hanuman Chalisa. His responses helped us perform the surgery safely and successfully as whenever we would touch a wrong spot, his speech would get inaudible,” said Dr Bansal.
{{/usCountry}}“Monitoring response in a conventional brain surgery is not possible, as the patient is sedated. In awake brain surgery, the patient’s response can be continuously monitored, which helps the surgeon to ascertain the exact spot without damaging other areas of the brain. In this patient’s case he was continuously asked to read, sing or recite the Hanuman Chalisa. His responses helped us perform the surgery safely and successfully as whenever we would touch a wrong spot, his speech would get inaudible,” said Dr Bansal.
{{/usCountry}}“Surgery was done using high-end operating microscope which can magnify the brain area and special dyes were injected to mark the tumour. The patient was discharged within 72 hours and he is now leading a normal life,” said hospital facility director Karthik Ramakrishnan.
Meanwhile, at Mahatma Gandhi Medical College and Hospital in Jaipur, neurosurgeon Dr Pankaj Gupta removed a tumour from brain through endo nasal endoscopic trans spehenoidal approach.
Raj Kumari, a resident of Sawant Garh village in Tonk district, was suffering from headache for the past one year and lost her eyesight. She had consulted many hospitals in the state but was cured. When she consulted Dr Pankaj Gupta, she was diagnosed with brain tumour.
Dr Gupta advised her for surgery but attendants refused and took her to some quack and tantrik. Kumari’s health started deteriorating and brought her back to Dr Gupta, who through scan diagnosed a bigger tumour which led to atrophy of her both optic nerves. She was operated and got her eyesight back.
“This operation was challenging due to optic atrophy; the patient had completely lost her eyesight and it seemed nearly impossible to regain it. Tumour was completely removed via Endo nasal Endoscopic Trans Sphenoidal approach,” Dr Gupta said.
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