Talking about Hughes’ condition, Dr. M. Balamurugan, a neurosurgeon at the Apollo Hospital, told The Hindu here on Thursday: “We come across this injury mostly in the case of road accidents. The survival rate is very low, from five to 10 per cent.”
Dr. Balamurugan explained: “The brain gets its blood supply from two main arteries, one in the front of the neck and another at the back of the neck. The one in the front is called carotid artery, and the one at the back is named vertebral artery.”
He added, “this condition of the artery is very serious. To recognise this condition is very difficult in itself. The treatment can be very challenging.”
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Throwing more light, Dr. Balamurugan said, “the neurosurgeons have only two options. To perform an open surgery or artery stenting.” Stenting is a procedure where an artery can be expanded by carefully inserting a flexible tube.
Once the artery on the back of the head was blocked, it became extremely hard to save Phillips.