Kolkata doctors remove brain tumour from Dutch tourist misdiagnosed abroad

KOLKATA: Doctors in the Netherlands dismissed a 36-year-old Dutch citizen’s unrelenting headache and bouts of vomiting as his body’s reaction to 2 opposite weather conditions in quick succession. This was in mid-January, upon his return home to biting European temperatures from the humid and warm Singapore weather.

During his recent visit to Kolkata, he was dogged by the same condition, and doctors here detected the reason, treated him, and sent him back to his country in good health. According to sources, the man arrived in Kolkata with his wife during Valentine’s week.

Intense headaches and bouts of vomiting prompted his wife to rush him to C K Birla Hospitals, CMRI. Admitted under the care of Dr Biswarup Lahiri, a CT scan revealed a tumour lodged in the back of his head, which was confirmed by an MRI. The hospital roped in its neurosurgery team.

“The patient’s heart rate was dipping, at times falling to 56 beats per minute. Such tumours at the junction of the brainstem and cerebellum can be deceptively quiet, only to end in sudden cardiorespiratory collapse without further warning,” said neurosurgeon Amitabha Chanda, department head.

Chanda and his team operated on the patient, as any delay was a risk to the visitor’s life. In fact, by the time the patient was wheeled into the operating theatre, his heart rate plummeted to 38 per minute. Taking all caution, the neurosurgeon dissected the tumour from the vital structure, and the entire tumour was excised with precision.

“The mass was treacherously vascular, clinging stubbornly to structures where even a millimetre’s error could steal the patient’s speech, movement, or life itself,” said Chanda. The tumour was found sitting at one of the most significant crossroads of the human body, where the brainstem meets the cerebellum.

Doctors said that while the brainstem is the custodian of breath, heartbeat, consciousness, eye movement, and limb control, the cerebellum is core for balance and coordination. Post-surgery, the patient made an uneventful recovery. He was discharged 5 days later and then went back to his country.