Woman From Bengaluru Receives Rare Procedure To Remove Tumour

A 27-year-old lady had a rare awake craniotomy operation at the Sagar Apollo Hospital in the city that offered her a new lease on life by removing a 4 cm brain tumour from her left posterior temporal lobe's eloquent cortex. This part of the brain is the portion responsible for speaking. She underwent surgery while awake and cognizant, but medication was provided to make sure she didn't experience any discomfort.

The procedure was carried out by a surgical team under the direction of Dr. Murali Mohan S, senior consultant neurosurgeon and director of neurosciences at Sagar Hospitals, and a team of anesthesiologists under the direction of Dr. Gayathri P, senior consultant neuroanesthetist and neuro intensivist.

She was kept awake by playing music of her choice, talking to her frequently, and having her perform some math throughout the surgery, according to Dr. Mohan, who explained that because the surgery was performed on the eloquent cortex, they had to make sure that her speech and memory were unaffected.

He explained that while brain tumour surgeries typically last seven hours, this procedure was finished in 3.5 hours because it is difficult to keep the patient awake during such operations. Within two hours of the Friday surgery, she was able to walk. She received her discharge on Monday and was instructed to return to work in a week.

The elderly parents' lone daughter, who lived alone in Bengaluru, were from Udupi. She was told she had a brain tumour seven years ago, but she kept putting off the surgery out of concern that she might lose her ability to speak or remember things.

She had frequent seizures caused by the tumour and panic attacks as a result of her fear of having to live with it. However, before contacting Dr. Mohan, she visited a number of doctors to see if the surgery could be performed without impairing her speech or memory.