Hospital uses contour device on patient who ignored her headaches

A 56-year-old woman from Mumbai almost lost her life as she didn’t take her headache seriously and suffered from a brain aneurysm.

A team headed by Dr Nitin Dange, Senior Consultant - Endovascular Neurosurgeon, Global Hospitals at Parel in Mumbai treated her with a procedure using a Contour device.

The patient who was also Covid-19 positive did not have any neurological problems and has now resumed her daily routine.

The procedure using a Contour device was done for the first time in Asia.

Kanchan Darge was busy with her daily routine when she suddenly experienced a headache.

After ruling it out as a normal one, she popped a pill and continued with her chores.

Due to unbearable pain, the patient was admitted to a private hospital in 2017, where open brain surgery was performed on her for a right-sided brain aneurysm.

The patient had developed left-sided half of body weakness and speech difficulty after this surgery.

This time she was brought to Global Hospitals as she insisted treatment for another side mirror aneurysm without surgery and least risky and she was treated with minimally invasive endovascular treatment using contour device wherein her life was saved by Dr Dange.

“This patient was admitted with severe headache and drowsiness. Her tests revealed that she was Covid positive, and was in the Covid ICU for further management. By adhering to the Covid protocol, she was offered a new technique by the intervention (without open surgery) for the aneurysm. The new device called contour was explained to the relatives as well as the patient,” he said.

The intravascular device fits into the neck of the aneurysm to stop the blood flow into the aneurysm and successfully treat it. “The procedure by contour device helps in a complex aneurysm that arises at the branching of the main vessels present in the brain and prevents it from rupturing. It is safe, heals the aneurysm naturally, and the post-operative requirement of blood-thinning medications is minimal. The procedure was performed for 2 hrs and she was discharged without any neurological issues with the aneurysm secured,” he said.

“I self-medicated for my headache. I was habituated to taking painkillers and tried home remedies. After the treatment, I am in the best of health. I want to urge people not to commit the same mistake which I did. I didn’t discuss my problem with my family. They got to know about it only when my health worsened. Don’t ignore drowsiness and get a timely diagnosis,” said patient Kanchan Darge.