A five-year-old boy who was battling for life owing to a cyst that had developed in the crucial brain stem area got a new lease of life with the cyst being removed by a team of doctors at Vijayanagara Institute of Medical Sciences in Ballari on May 12 this year.
As per PubMed, a free database of references and abstracts on life sciences and biomedical topics maintained by the United States National Library of Medicine at the National Institutes of Health, it is the second recorded surgery of the kind, after the one in Russia.
As per information provided by Vishwanath S., Professor and Head of the Department of Neurosurgery at VIMS, who led the team of doctors in the surgery, the balloon-like cyst had developed in the sensitive brain stem area and was disturbing the respiratory and heartbeat controlling activities of the brain.
“Brain stem is an important area in the brain which controls the respiratory system and heartbeats. The cyst that had developed in the area was disturbing these activities of the brain. As a result, the child was unable to stand, walk and play. After counselling the child’s parents, we successfully removed the cyst in a complex microscopic surgery by opening almost half of the skull. The child showed significant improvement a day after the surgery. Now, the child is absolutely normal and it can walk, run, play and do all other activities just like a normal child of his age,” Dr. Vishwanath told The Hindu.
According to the information gathered, the issue was there right from birth and the problem aggravated in April and May this year. The child was finding it difficult to stand on its own, walk and play. The worried parents consulted a local doctor who identified the problem and advised the parents to take the child to the Indira Gandhi Institute of Child Health in Bengaluru.
The parents later took the child to the National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences (NIMHANS) in the State capital. Since the surgery was not scheduled immediately, the child was taken to VIMS in Ballari where Dr. Vishwanath once again diagnosed the problem with the help of MRI scan.
“Since it was a complicated surgery, I could not assure the parents of anything and they broke down instantly. After proper counselling, the parents agreed to have the surgery and gave the child to my custody. We started the process at 9.30 a.m. at Trauma Care and Super-specialty Hospital attached to VIMS and successfully completed the surgery by 3 p.m.,” Dr. Vishwanath said.
Assistant Neurosurgeon Basavaraj Patil, general surgeon Chandrakumar, anaesthetist Srinivasalu and staff nurses Sijju and Nancy were part of the team.
In a statement, VIMS Director T. Gangadhar Gouda and Trauma Care Superintendent Shiva Naik commended Dr. Vishwanath and his team for the successful surgery.
“It is a rare and complicated surgery and Dr. Vishwanath and his team have performed it successfully. As per PubMed, it is the second recorded surgery of the kind in the world. Earlier also, Dr. Vishwanath had successfully performed many complicated surgeries and this one is another feather in his cap,” they said in the statement.
