When 49-year-old Veerapandian, a software engineer in Dubai, experienced constant headache and developed a drooping left eyelid, little did he know about the seriousness of his condition.
Diagnosed with a large aneurysm in the brain, a very serious condition, today, Veerapandian is all set to fly back to Dubai after a month-long recovery post-surgery at Apollo Hospitals.
Instead of an open surgery, doctors treated the dysplastic (abnormally dilated) giant brain aneurysm in a minimally invasive cranial surgery using a flow diverter and coils.
Srinivasan Paramasivam, senior consultant neurosurgeon and head of Neuroendovascular Surgery, Apollo Hospitals, said the aneurysm, ballooning of the blood vessel in the brain, was abnormal in shape, large and unusual in location — at a branching point of the blood vessel.
“It was producing pressure effect in the surrounding area. This also caused the eyelids to droop,” he told reporters on Tuesday.
Innovative technique
Dr. Paramasivam said that earlier, such aneurysms were treated by open surgery that involves a bypass of blood vessel followed by trapping. This, he said, is associated with higher risk of morbidity. “We have a biplane cath lab at Apollo, and we designed an innovative technique to treat him. We took a multipronged approach to the aneurysm from the right and left side of the brain — through the blood vessels in the thighs — and crossed from the right to left. We placed a flow diverter, which is a metal tube with small pores, on the blood vessel to eliminate turbulent blood flow, and coils. This flow diverter is only used for sidewall aneurysm, and we have used it for this case of blood vessel bifurcation aneurysm,” he said.
Mr. Veerapandian was relieved of the headache and was discharged on the fourth day after surgery. His left eye drooping also recovered. Preetha Reddy, vice chairperson of Apollo Hospitals, was present.