Doctors operate on giant balloon in man's brain

CHENNAI: A persistent headache for two weeks: this was

Veerapandian

's first sign that something was amiss. Within a month, the 54-year-old felt like he was gradually losing control over his movements, starting with his left eyelid.


Dr

Srinivasan Paramasivam

, head of neuroendovascular surgery at Apollo hospitals, was no stranger to these symptoms. "These are the most common manifestations of aneurysm in the brain," said the surgeon, referring to ballooning of blood vessels caused by the weakening of their walls. What he didn't anticipate was the size of the bulge in Veerapandian’s brain. The scan results caught the doctors off guard. Measuring 2cm, not only was the aneurysm categorised as being a "giant", it was also located in an unusual spot – at the base point where the blood vessels branch out. "And it was growing," said Dr Paramasivam.

If left untreated Veerapandian could have gradually lost control over speech and motion in his right hand and leg. Death, on the other hand, could have been instant if the aneurysm had ruptured.

Veerapandian, who works as a software engineer in

Dubai

and hails from Vembangudi, Tanjavur, flew down in April to undergo a minimally invasive surgery. Dr Paramasivam said in the past, such aneurysms were treated by open surgery that involves a bypass of blood vessel, associated with higher risk of morbidity. "In Veerapandian’s case, the strategy involved a multipronged approach to the aneurysm from right and left sides of the brain, using flow diverter, to resist blood flow to the growth," said the doctor. "In short", he said, "We wanted to shrink it". The entire procedure lasted about three hours.

Following the procedure, the patient was stable and recovered from his headache. He was discharged from the hospital on the fourth day of treatment. A month later, on Tuesday, he was presented to the media. "I didn’t think there was a monster behind my headache," said Veerapandian. "And I didn’t think I would be out of hospital so quickly," he added.