Surgery saves 55-year-old worker with brain aneurysm

BENGALURU: Three weeks ago, Gangamma, 55, a worker at a resort in Gundlupet, Mysuru, developed crippling headaches and vomiting. The doctors in Mysuru, unable to diagnose the ailment, referred her to a hospital in Bengaluru, where it was found that

Gangamma

had an aneurysm a rupture of a bubble in the blood vessels in her brain.

Gangamma subsequently underwent a complex surgery, one which she not only survived but also proved to be least invasive. The surgeons at

Bhagwan Mahaveer Jain Hospital

, where she was treated, employed a procedure called coiling, which only involved mak ing a small prick in the groin without cutting open either the brain or the neck.

Neurosurgeon at the

Jain Institute of Sterotaxy

and Functional Neurosurgery , Dr

Sharan Srinivasan

said there's a need for free brain screenings, along the lines of the existing free heart check-ups in India. “There is less blood lost in coiling. Also, there are few chances of the patient contracting procedure-related infections, besides reducing the time the patient has to spend in hospital,“ Dr Srinivasan said.

The doctors and trustees of the hospital sought donations from philanthropists for the entire course of her treatment. “Gangamma is now conscious and eating. With some support, she is also walking around. She will recover completely in two months' time with neuro-rehabilitation,“ Dr Srinivasan said.

Brain aneurysm is discovered in three to 15 individuals in a population of 1 lakh. “However, those are the figures of those diagnosed with an aneurysm. There are thousands of such cases that go undetected. While one-third of the cases do not even reach the hospital, another one-third die as a consequence of blood leakage in the brain; it is only one-third of the patients who survive treatment. A clear symptom of an aneurysm is a severe headache, one that is unbearable. But, in India, headaches are often treated with a pill,“ he told TOI.

In Japan, the government organises periodic brain screenings, he said.