Doctors at Gleneagles Global Health City (GGHC) hospital have performed a complex surgery on a four-year-old girl to remove a tumour from the brainstem.
According to a press release from the hospital, since March last year, the child had been unable to walk and could not talk clearly. She had eye deviation too. In January 2021, she underwent a surgery at another hospital to remove the accumulation of fluid in her brain. However, her condition continued to deteriorate.
In March, the girl was brought to GGHC, where the doctors diagnosed that she had a 6 cm by 4 cm tumour in a critical area, occupying and compressing the entire brainstem.
The hospital said the child’s parents were counselled about the complex nature of the procedure, the post-operative ventilator support and the prolonged stay at the intensive care unit.
Nigel Symss, senior consultant neurosurgeon and clinical lead, neurosurgery, GGHC, said the girl was nearly confined to her bed, and her parents were fatigued from the multiple surgeries she had already gone through.
“The biggest challenge was the size and the location of the tumour, considering the age and medical history of the girl. The execution would not have been possible without a multi-disciplinary approach,” he said.
Dinesh Nayak, director of neurosciences, GGHC, said all the latest technology was deployed for successful outcome of the surgery.
Anaesthesia, a challenge
Ramanan, clinical lead, neuro-anaesthesia and neurocritical care, said anaesthesia for children for brain surgeries was challenging. “It required meticulous calculations of drug doses and special equipment called intraoperative neuromonitoring,” he added.
Karnan, head, pediatric ICU, GGHC, said the child had a smooth post-operative recovery and could be discharged on the sixth day after surgery.
Appreciating the team for the achievement, Alok Khullar, CEO, GGHC, Chennai, said the assessment of risks and the execution of the procedure needed a highly skilled neurosciences team, equipment and protocol.
