THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The medical team at KIMSHEALTH has successfully treated a one-and-a-half-year-old girl with a rare and life-threatening condition affecting her brain. Diagnosed with brainstem cavernoma, a rare congenital defect where a cluster of blood vessels in the brain becomes inactive, thus leading to bleeding, the child was brought to the hospital in a comatose state.
This condition occurs in only 2.1 out of every 1,000 children. The child underwent transnasal endoscopic brainstem cavernoma removal surgery, using a 4 mm endoscope, which was navigated through the nasal cavity to access the brain stem area.
The area was then drilled open, and the defective blood vessels were identified and removed under endoscopic visualisation, relieving the baby of the compression.
This is the first time such a surgery has been performed in the country, and the challenge was compounded by the child’s smaller nasal cavity compared to that of an adult, said doctors.