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Brain Surgery Evolutions

by Dr. Enozia Vakil on Mar 4 2013 11:15 AM
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Fast-paced lives have increased the number of people suffering from lifestyle-related diseases. Accidents and trauma cases are now flooding the hospital, which makes development an urgent need of the hour.

Thanks to the millions of dollars invested by sponsors, a huge number of clinical trials are now being successfully conducted to develop new and better medications and tools to aid health and wellness. Brain surgery remains the most complex and dangerous surgeries till date. A simple miss or a nudge can affect the patient’s vital systems for the lifetime. It is for this reason that developments in brain surgery are a must.

Here we describe the two evolutions in the field of neuroscience and neurosurgery.

Interventional MRI for patients with Parkinson's: In patients suffering from Parkinson's disease, a battery-operated brain stimulator electrode is used, which overrides the abnormal electrical patterns arising from the brain. This deep brain stimulation technique has been used since decades for Parkinson's patients to control movement and involuntary motion. During this procedure, the patient was earlier needed to be awake to give a real time monitor and to confirm the proper placement of the device.

With the invention of new interventional MRI, things have now changed. The patient can be kept under general anesthesia and can be treated more efficiently using a skull-mounted device which is used in conjunction with a software package and a real-time MRI. This approach is faster, less invasive and more accurate than the earlier method of treatment.

Brain surgery for Arteriovenous malformation: The world recognized medical team from UC San Diego Medical Center have, for the past 3 decades, struggled and strived hard to evolutionarize a complex surgery into a simple technique involving minimally-invasive approaches. A brain lesion, also known as an arteriovenous malformation, is a dangerous condition wherein clusters of arteries and veins start developing in the brain.

Normal surgical procedures for this condition carried with them a huge risk of inflammation and swelling of the brain coupled with the usual risks like allergic reactions and infections, associated with a normal surgical procedure. For years, the team strived to put together different approaches of radiology, surgery and anesthesia to introduce a new method of treatment of this condition, which is believed to have a much lesser risk of these side effects.

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The new technique has managed to starve these lesions artery by artery, vein by vein, finally relieving the symptoms and restoring health.

Source-Medindia


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