Awake Surgery For Brain Tumor in 10-year-old Turns Out Successful

Highlights

A 10-year-old girl was awake playing video games and conversing with her uncle for 3 hours when the surgery was taking place.
This rare type of surgery to remove brain tumor took place successfully in Chennai, India.
Brain tumors are treated with surgery if they are low grade tumors.

A private hospital in Chennai, India performed awake surgery for brain tumor on a 10-year-old girl. what's special about this surgery is that, the girl played video games and was talking to her uncle for three hours while doctors removed a 1.5 centimeter broad and 5 centimeter long tumor from her brain.

Awake Brain Tumor Surgery In Chennai

Brain Tumor in Children - Types, Causes, Symptoms, Diagnosis & Treatment
An abnormal growth of cells in the brain is called brain tumor. Most tumors arise within the brain (primary). They can be benign or cancerous.

‘Awake surgeries are applicable for speech and brain surgeries as the movement of limbs and speech notify the surgeon to preserve the important nerves that connect to these organs.’

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Awake surgeries are applicable for speech and brain surgeries as the movement of limbs and speech notify the surgeon to preserve the important nerves supplying the hand, leg and face while the tumor is being gradually removed. If any decrease in the movement of the leg or hand could be noticed, then that portion of tumor can be left behind removing the rest of the tumor.

Chennai has conducted various types of rare surgeries such as keyhole surgery, robotic surgery, HOLEP surgery, Florescence Guided Surgery and others. Adding to the list is - Awake surgery that Chennai doctors have started performing on children after it turned successful for adult patients over last few years.

Successful Surgery For Brain Tumor

About Brain Tumor
Brain tumors are the abnormal growth of brain cells that may be benign or metastatic. Brain tumors account for about 2.4% of all the tumor diagnosesandare most challenging due to their critically delicate location.

Dr Roopesh Kumar, Neurosurgeon, SIMS Hospital, said the girl has been having fits in the last two months and on diagnosis, a brain tumor was found in an important area of brain which controls the movement of her left half of the body including face, hand and leg. Removal by conventional surgical methods could leave her paralysed, therefore, awake surgery called as awake craniotomy was needed.

Talking about the complex surgery, Dr Suresh Bapu, Director, Institute of Neurosciences, SIMS, said, “Only very few instances of this procedure has been carried out in children across the globe. The 10-year-old patient is the youngest in south Asia to have successfully undergone awake craniotomy with Intra operative Neuromonitoring.”

Astrocytoma - Causes, Symptoms, Diagnosis & Treatment
Astrocytomas are primary brain tumors and the most common type of glial tumors. There are many varieties of astrocytomas, and it is seen in all age groups.

Brain Tumor - Treatment

An abnormal growth of tissue within the brain is called brain tumor. It can be either primary or secondary. Primary tumors develop within the brain while secondary tumors occur as a result of spread of cancer from some other part of the body. Secondary brain tumors are also called metastatic brain tumors.

Glioblastoma Multiforme | Astrocytoma Grade 4 - Types, Causes, Symptoms, Diagnosis, Treatment
Glioblastomas are tumors that arise from astrocytes that make up the supportive tissue of the brain. Glioblastomas are usually highly malignant.

Brain tumors are treated with surgery, radiation therapy and chemotherapy. In general, Grade I and II tumors are low grade and treated with surgery and continuous monitoring. Grade III and IV tumors are malignant and grow quickly, therefore, are more difficult to remove surgically and require radiation and chemotherapy in addition to surgical removal.

Source-Medindia