29-day-old child treated for rare brain cyst at AIIMS

New Japanese instrument helps in surgery

When Sheetal brought her child from Jhajjar, Haryana to the neurosurgery department of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, he was only 15 days old with a rare brain disorder. Even before getting a name, the child was operated at the age of 29 days. 

 He became the youngest patient in the institute who was treated for arachnoid cyst along with hydro-cephalus. Due to the cyst a ‘balloon’ was formed inside the child’s brain blocking flow of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), an essential liquid, to the lower part of brain. 

The ‘balloon’ further created more pressure in the brain which lead to more complications in functioning.

The baby went through a surgery called the endoscopic cysto-ventriculostomy, in which a tubelike structure is inserted in the brain, connected with the camera.

 Then the ventricles of the brain, which form the communicating network within CSF-filled parts of brain, are made functional.

Difficult surgery

“It is tough to conduct this operation on such young children because of the size of the traditional instruments. 

“They are too big for tiny heads of children,” said Dr A K Mahapatra, professor, neurosurgery, AIIMS. 

Doctors overcame this hurdle by using a new instrument called the Ol HandyPro. The surgery was conducted by Dr Shizuo OI who invented the device. 

Dr Shizuo OI is a paediatric neurosurgeon, from St Thomas University, Japan. OI HandyPro has a diameter of 2 mm, which is the thinnest in the world for this kind of equipment.

How it helps

“The instrument allows us to restrict to a very small cut in the skull, which is specially important while treating these children,” said Dr OI. He has performed this surgery only on three to four children so far.

“This is a rare disease. In our department, we have received only eight cases in the past few years. This child is the youngest among them,” said Dr Mahapatra.

Neurosurgery workshop

The surgery was shown live to delegates who participated in the 14th Annual Microneurosurgery Workshop at AIIMS. After giving a brief history of the patients and the illnesses, live surgeries were shown on screens set in conference rooms. The delegates were allowed to interact with the operating surgeons.

Delegates from a number of countries, which mostly included the neighbouring countries, the Middle-East and Africa, attended the workshop.