26th August 2016, Chennai: A young executive from Abu Dhabi the sole bread winner of his family was suffering from frequent episodes of paralysis of left hand and leg over last four months. Before he had this attack, Mr. Manikandan had not shown any outward symptoms. The doctors were able to discover the stroke induced system just in time. The doctors did a series of tests including a brain angiography which revealed multiple blocks in blood vessels supplying the right half of the brain. This reduced blood flow resulted in loss of crucial brain function causing frequent paralysis and increased the risk of seizures.
The family was devastated after the discovery of this brain disease. The outlook was grim and the thought of a subsequent severe brain attack permanently disabling him loomed large.
Neurosurgeons at Abu Dhabi advised him that surgical intervention for such disease was successfully performed in Japan and referred him there for further treatment.
That’s when, few of his doctor friends found about this novel by-pass surgery being done regularly at SIMS Hospital, Chennai with excellent results.
“Just like a heart attack where the heart vessels are clogged, his condition was similar. Instead of heart blood vessels, his brain blood vessels were blocked at multiple places causing something similar to brain attack or stroke” explained Dr K R Suresh Bapu, Senior Consultant Neurosurgeon, SIMS Hospital.
The neurosurgery team at SIMS Hospital immediately investigated his rare neurological condition. After analyzing his clinical condition, the Neurosurgery team decided to go ahead with this rare lifesaving by pass procedure.
Dr Roopesh Kumar, Senior consultant Neurosurgeon, SIMS Hospital, who performed this surgical procedure said “A blood vessel running under the skin of scalp is harvested under microscope and is stitched to the blood vessel running on the surface of the brain after making a hole in the skull. This delicate procedure requires extreme patience and skill as the vessels are less than a millimeter in diameter. We at SIMS Hospital have performed around 12 similar surgeries in the past 2 years”.
The team successfully performed this extremely delicate bypass surgery on Mr. Manikandan, which lasted 6 hours. The blood vessel block was by-passed and flow to the right half of brain improved well which was confirmed by a state of the art intra-operative dye angiography just before the end of surgery.
Commenting on the lifesaving surgery performed on a person suffering from recurrent brain attacks Dr. Raju Sivasamy, Vice President, SIMS Hospitals, Vadapalani said “This is truly a success story for SIMS Hospital that has highly skilled & vastly experienced surgeons performing with the latest surgical techniques in Neurosciences with advanced equipment’s.”
Mr.Manikandan, has recovered well and is now free from further attacks of stroke that causes paralysis. The brain angiogram performed after the surgery revealed a good blood flow to the right side of the brain. After a brief stay at hospital, Mr. Manikandan is back home with his family and feels his ordeal has ended, thanks to the rare , life-saving surgery performed by the Neurosurgery team of SIMS Hospital.
The patient and his family said “we are thankful to the fantastic and holistic expertise offered by the advanced Neurosciences team at SIMS Hospital.”
“There are many people who die of stroke in India and this is completely curable if they are brought within the golden hour. Some people who get minor stoke as warning signs and they have to be evaluated to find blockage of blood vessels to the brain and appropriate medical or surgical intervention had to be undertaken to prevent major stroke” said Dr. Rithesh R` Consultant – General Neurology & Interventional Neurologist.
The word bypass surgery immediately creates an image of a patient with heart attack. But many are still unaware that similar condition exists in brain and can result in condition where blood supply to the crucial and vital areas of brain are lost causing paralysis and seizures, known as stroke. But as in the case of heart, can a similar procedure in brain prevent this disease? The answer is “Yes”. But the procedure is an extremely delicate rare by –pass surgery and not many in the world are successfully performing it. This is mainly due to the intricacy required to ensure good results, thereby restricting this kind of surgery to very limited centers around the world.
This rare and difficult life-saving by-pass procedure was first done in early 70’s but was given up due to the intricacy and difficulty of the procedure. However, there has been a resurgence of this difficult technique and is now performed in a very few select centers in the world. A successful by-pass surgery could well be an answer to this brain disease and can provide new lease of life to many afflicted by this brain disease.
About SRM Group:
SRM Group well-known for their educational forays as part of their growth, the Group has now started SIMS a 345-bed corporate hospital at Vadapalani, Chennai which has the complete spectrum of Medical Services. Each Institute has all relevant sub specialties under its fold.
