COIMBATORE: A private hospital in Coimbatore city performed a brain surgery on Monday keeping the patient awake.
The procedure, called ‘awake surgery’ or ‘awake craniotomy,’ was performed by neurosurgeons in Royal Care Hospital. It was done on the patient to remove a 2.5m wide and 3 cm long tumour from a patient’s brain. The patient kept talking to the surgeons and staff.
A neurosurgeon said the awake craniotomy ensured that important nerves involving speech and limb movement were not affected.
“It is not a new technique, but is rarely done,” said hospital chairman and neurosurgeon Dr K Madeswaran. “This patient’s tumour was in the brain’s Broca’s area, in the frontal lobe, which handles his speech function,” he added.
Muruganandham, 42, was a bus conductor, who stopped working eight years ago due to seizures. Medications did not help in controlling them. Later, an MRI was done to diagnose the tumour in the speech portion of the brain.
“There was a risk that routine surgical methods could affect his ability to speak, because we may disturb or have to remove a portion of an important nerve,” surgeon Dr Senthil said.
So, the doctors decided to perform the awake craniotomy.
“We gave him a local anesthesia and mild sedation to cut open his skull as the brain’s dura matter is pain sensitive. The brain is not sensitive to pain, so we could operate inside it without requiring full sedation,” said Dr Madeswaran. Muruganandham said he felt no pain.
“While my family was apprehensive about me staying conscious during the surgery, I was not scared. During the surgery, I felt nothing besides the injection,” he added and said that he was speaking more clearly post-surgery.
It took three hours to complete the surgery to remove the tumour.
“We kept watching for speech disturbances while removing the tumour. Now he is ready for discharge,” the surgeon said.