City hospital performs brain surgery on kid with rare ailment

Chennai

: A city hospital conducted a brain bypass surgery to treat a seven-year-old child from Andhra Pradesh, who was diagnosed with a rare medical condition, Moyamoya disease.

The child came to MGM Healthcare in September this year with complaints of “prolonged unconsciousness” after having multiple episodes of “mini-strokes” and seiures. The doctors did an angiogram – a procedure in which they injected dye into the patient’s brain to visualise the blood flow. After the procedure, doctors confirmed the girl had Moyamoya disease. The condition is a rare progressive cerebrovascular disorder, caused by blocked arteries at the base of the brain in an area called the basal ganglia, doctors said.

The name Moyamoya is drawn from Japanese meaning “puff of smoke” to describe the tangled appearance of tiny vessels compensating for the blockage, said neurosurgeon Dr Roopesh Kumar. The normal blood vessels in the brain were narrow and blocked leaving the child predisposed to ministrokes, he said.

Initially, the child was drowsy for three days but became unconscious later. Doctors suggested brain bypass surgery to improve blood circulation in the body. She was then wheeled in for the complex medical procedure.

“It was a difficult surgery as the blood vessels were less than 1 mm in size,” Dr Roopesh Kumar said. “The surgery was successful. She has completely recovered now and is very much active compared to the past.”