A three-year-old boy, who had been having frequent seizures after suffering a fall when he was three months old, recently underwent a surgery to correct drug-resistant epilepsy at a city hospital.
The boy, who used to suffer at least 10 seizures a day, has not had a single attack after the surgery, according to doctors who treated him.
Harish, son of K. Gnanaprakasam of Mettupalayam near Poonamallee, fell from his cradle when he was three months old. He was rushed to Institute of Child Health, Egmore, after he developed fever and fits, his father, a daily wage labourer, said.
“Doctors said there was a blood clot and pus formation in his head. We were asked to go to the government general hospital where he underwent a surgery. A month later, the pus formed again and he had to be operated on again. It recurred when he was 10 months old,” he said.
Recurrent seizures left Harish with injuries on his head and face, sustained as he fell during attacks. “He was under proper medication but it did not cure him. We approached several doctors and were referred to Fortis Malar Hospital early this year,” he said.
Dinesh Nayak, head of department, neurology, and epileptologist at the hospital, said the boy suffered from extensive scarring on the right posterior head region of the brain. “He was not responding to anti-epileptic drugs. He was also on anti-psychotic drugs as he had behavioural problems including hyperactiveness, poor social skills, and disruptive behaviour,” he said.
Doctors did a video telemetry mapping — to confirm the seizures originated in the scarred region of the brain — and an MRI scan. “We spent three months rationalising medications to see its effectiveness and then decided to operate on him. The surgery was performed on July 4 and involved disconnecting the scarred region of the brain from the rest of it while preserving the motor and sensory function of the hands and legs,” he explained.
The surgery was covered under the Chief Minister’s Comprehensive Health Insurance Scheme, and was thus free, Dr. Nayak added.
