Kids exposed to radiation prone to brain tumours

Kakinada: Apollo Hospital will conduct a free consultation camp on its premises from June 8 to 11 in connection with International Brain Tumour Day (IBTD)-2022.

On the occasion of IBTD, the Apollo Hospital authorities conducted a press conference here on Tuesday. Apollo Hospital Deputy Medical Superintendent Dr PP Chatterjee, Chief Neurosurgeon Dr MV Kiran Kumar, Neuro Physician Dr KSR Gandhi, Neurosurgeon Dr Reddi Shankar Rao were present.

Speaking to the media, Dr Chatterjee explained the symptoms and the origin of brain tumour and added that their hospital would provide facilities with latest technology to patients.

He stated that diagnosis would be done with latest medical equipment such as MRI, CT, STEALTH and allied instruments, which are available round the clock and surgeries will be performed with least expenses.

Chief Neurosurgeon Dr Kiran Kumar said that in case of brain tumour immediate attention should be paid in order that the patient may recover soon without further complications. He said that children and young people, who receive radiation around head, are susceptible to developing tumours in brain once they grow up. Sometimes these tumours can be severe and cause threat to life. According to him, people with a certain kind of rare genetic condition like neurofibromatosis may develop a brain tumour though such cases are very few in number. Symptoms like headache, vomiting, weakness in arm or legs, visual disturbances (dimness of vision, squint, double vision etc), seizure, speech problems are harbingers of brain tumours.

Dr Kiran Kumar informed that so far 10,000 brain tumour operations have been conducted since the inception of Apollo Hospital. He said brain tumours are genetically found and it may also recur even after performing surgery. 'All the cases were successful in their hospital.' Stating that charges would be fixed depending on the type or category of tumour, he said usually brain tumour surgery will cost about Rs 3 lakh and an additional amount will be charged for medicines. He said that they are accepting Arogyasri card holders even though the government pays Rs 40,000 per patient.