A complicated brain surgery was successfully performed on a 46-year-old woman by doctors at MyCure Hospitals here recently.
Ms. Shiva Kumari had frequent bouts of headache and reeling sensation during December 2016. She was referred to MyCure after routine treatments failed to cure her problem.
“An MRI scan of her brain had revealed a fairly large tumour, located in front of the medulla (brain stem). Reaching the area was difficult and also risky due to the proximity of the medulla, lower cranial nerves (which assist in swallowing and breathing) and vertebral artery (which provides essential blood supply to the brain),” Chief Consultant Neuro Surgeon T. Suresh told the media here on Friday.
He said these types of tumours ( foramen magnum meningiomas ) were very rare and constitute about 0.04 per cent of all brain tumours. They were seen in two or three persons for one lakh population, a year. Foramen magnum was the hole through which the brain stem and the spinal cord pass.
This region of the brain was severely compressed by the tumour and surgery was very complex and potentially dangerous as it could paralyse the limbs, resulting in loss of all sensations from the neck downwards and leaving the patient bedridden for life. The common complications, post surgery, include breathing and swallowing difficulties even today, he said. Dr. Suresh said the patient was counselled and told about the tumour and the complications of the surgery.
Ms. Shiva Kumari said at first she was against the surgery but agreed to it when the doctors told her that she had no other option. “I am able to do my work quite normally,” she said.
