Visakhapatnam :
In what is perhaps for the first time in state-run hospitals of AP, a complicated neurosurgery (awake craniotomy) was performed at the King George Hospital (KGH) on a 30-year-old patient suffering from brain cancer. Awake craniotomy is an open surgery of the brain under which the patient is not being administered anaesthesia and is fully conscious but kept under analgesia to control the pain.
Appa Rao from Anakapalli underwent this surgery on January 8 for a low-grade Glioma (brain cancer). The tumour part was located in a very delicate area on the right side of his brain as it was surrounded by parts that control the movement of limbs. Any damage to these parts would have made the patient permanently paralytic and the damage could not have been gauged if general anaesthesia was given to him.
“The surgery had to be done under analgesia, during which the patient was awake so that we could constantly monitor his speech by talking to him and checking if he was stuttering (difficulty to talk). We also made him squeeze a toy to see his limbs were functioning. This was done so that if there was a problem, we could have halted the surgery and resumed it after the patient became normal. The patient was maintained under analgesia and in a conscious state using special medication and monitoring devices such as bispectral index,” explained Dr K Satyavara Prasad, head of the department of neurosurgery at KGH, who undertook the surgery along with his team.
The team included Dr BDBS Naik, Dr Vinay Bhushanam, Dr Sivarama Krishna, Dr Harshavardhan along with neuro-anesthesia team headed by Dr Murali Krishna, Dr Annapurna Sharma, Dr Ch Srinivas and Dr Satish.
KGH medical superintendent Dr M Madhusudhana Babu said the patient was conscious immediately after the surgery.
“The patient took oral fluids six hours after the surgery, was able to walk and carry out normal daily activities from the first post-operative day and will be discharged in two-three daysThis is a costly surgery that would have cost more than Rs 2 lakh in any corporate hospital,” he said.
source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Visakhapatnam / TNN / January 14th, 2015