CHENNAI: Doctors at Kauvery Hospital saved the life of a 30-year-old man by performing a complex brain surgery after he met with a road accident and suffered a skull fracture with brain tissue exposed.
The man from Puducherry was unconscious and battling a life-threatening brain infection at the time of admission. He was dependent on ventilator support. The patient underwent an emergency neurosurgical procedure where the fractured skull fragments were removed, and the dura, the brain’s protective covering, was reconstructed using fascia lata, a graft harvested from his thigh. The surgery was intricate, given the severity of the injury and the presence of infection, a release said.
The patient slowly began to show initial signs of improvement. He was weaned off the ventilator after 10 days. However, he developed hydrocephalus, a condition in which cerebrospinal fluid accumulates in the brain, increasing pressure. A second surgical intervention was performed to insert a ventriculoperitoneal (VP) shunt, which helped drain the excess fluid and stabilize his condition. Over the course of four weeks, the patient regained basic neurological functions and was discharged from the hospital, the release said.