5-year-old becomes youngest patient to undergo 'awake craniotomy' at AIIMS Delhi
New Delhi, Jan 6: Doctors at AIIMS, Delhi successfully performed a brain tumour surgery on a five-year-old girl while keeping her in a conscious state during the operation with the hospital claiming that she was the youngest patient in the world to undergo such a procedure.
The procedure termed as 'awake craniotomy' (conscious sedation technique) surgery for left perisylvian intraaxial brain tumour was performed on January 4, AIIMS said in a statement.
The child presented with a history of seizures and her brain MRI was done which showed a tumour in the left side of her brain adjacent to speech/language area, it said.
The surgery lasted three hours, including time taken for giving local anaesthesia to the child by neuroanaesthetists.
The tumour was removed successfully by a team of neurosurgeons as she remained conscious throughout the procedure.
"Technological adjuncts viz preoperative functional MRI brain, intraoperative ultrasonography, neuronavigation were used to localise tumour precisely during resection while mapping of functional areas was being carried out under awake conditions. Ice cold saline was used for the brain surface to prevent any seizures during the procedure," the statement said.
"The child is doing well and will be sent home on Monday," it said.
A long discussion was held between team members, patient's family and the child before taking a decision to go ahead with the surgery. They were counselled at length on steps of procedure, it stated.
She was shown common objects, common animals and given some tasks for language and sensorimotor assessments before surgery, which were repeated during the surgical procedure also.
She is a first standard student and was quick in identifying the picture of Prime Minister Narendra Modi during the surgery, the statement said.
"Awake surgeries for brain tumours are done for maximising tumour removals and minimising neurological deficits usually. During awake craniotomy, patients should feel a minimum level of pain while being completely able to cooperate in neurological tests," it said.
"Although this method is called awake craniotomy, this method requires even more collaboration in perfect harmony of the surgical and anaesthesia teams than other operations under general anaesthesia said,' Dr Deepak Gupta, Professor of Neurosurgery who performed this operation with his team with neuroanesthesia team led by Dr Mihir Pandia and Dr Gyanendra Pal Singh.
"Akshita happens to be the youngest child in the world to undergo successful brain tumour surgery under awake conditions at this age at AIIMS, Delhi," Dr Gupta said.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
J-K: Six held with drugs, assets worth Rs 73 lakh attached in Udhampur
Jammu (PTI): Six persons were taken into custody during an intensified anti-narcotics crackdown, with police recovering contraband substances and over Rs 23 lakh in Doda and Kathua districts of Jammu and Kashmir, police said on Monday.
In a parallel action, properties worth over Rs 73 lakh linked to drug peddlers were also attached in Udhampur district under relevant legal provisions, the police said.
Additional Superintendent of Police, Doda, Mohd Aslam said three persons, including a woman, were detained during a raid on a house at Dak Mohalla in the main town following recovery of 85 grams of suspected brown sugar and over Rs 23 lakh on Sunday evening.
He identified the woman as Zareena Begum, stating that she had been under police surveillance following inputs indicating her involvement in drug peddling.
Besides Zareena, officials said her daughter and son-in-law were also picked up by police during the raid.
“We have taken three individuals into custody. Their roles are being examined, and based on that, arrests will be made. We are continuing raids at other suspected locations,” Aslam said.
Three drug peddlers --Pardeep Singh of Hiranagar, Rahees Butt of Billawar and Ali Sen of Amritsar (Punjab) -- were arrested along with heroin at different places in Kathua district, a police spokesman said.
He said while 2.79 gm of heroin was seized from Singh, 2.66 gm were recovered Butt. Similarly, 303 gm of heroin was seized from Sen who was intercepted near Berrian-Pattan village while moving in a private car from Bhagthali to Maggar Khad on the Jammu-Pathankot highway.
All the three were booked under the NDPS Act and further investigations are on, the spokesman said.
In Udhampur, the spokesman said properties worth Rs 73 lakh were attached in two separate cases registered under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act.
The attached properties included a newly constructed residential house, a car, a motorcycle and a mobile phone with a total value of Rs 65 Lakh, belonging to accused Saif Ali who was booked under the NDPS case in Majalta area early this year, he said.
In another action, movable property worth Rs 8 lakh comprising a car, belonging to accused Danish Butt of Doda has been attached under Section 68(F) NDPS Act in connection with an FIR registered at Rehambal police station, the spokesman said.
