KOCHI: When Sheela Rajan (50) was diagnosed with mucormycosis (black fungus), a rare fungal infection, she had little hope of returning to normal life. Her condition was critical, affecting her vision in the right eye.
And the infection was spreading to her brain. She received a lease of life through an eight-hour surgery at the Little Flower Hospital in Angamaly. On Friday, after four months of treatment and rigorous follow-ups, Sheela returned to Gujarat in good health.
Belonging to Tiruvalla, Sheela had settled down in Gandhidham, Gujarat, around 30 years ago. Last September, she was diagnosed with black fungus. Though she sought treatment at various hospitals in Gujarat, her condition did not improve.
When she lost vision in the right eye, and with the infection spreading to the brain, her son, Ashish Rajan, decided to shift her to Little Flower.
Sheela was flown to the Kochi airport and then rushed to the Angamaly hospital, where she was treated by Dr Prasobh Stalin, leading the ENT and head and neck surgery departments. When admitted in October, she was bedridden.
According to the doctors, her condition was complicated by her uncontrolled diabetes, anaemia, hyponatremia (low sodium), and hypothyroidism. "To prevent any neurological damage to her brain, and to save her life, it was decided to perform her surgery within 24 hours, after the maximum possible stabilisation of her vital parameters. The extensive skull bone surgery took eight hours," said Dr Prasobh.
"Saving the life of a black fungus-infected patient requires extensive resection of all infected parts as this fungus cuts off the blood supply to that particular site. The biggest success in this surgery is that the doctors were able to completely eliminate the necrosed areas in one sitting," said Dr Prasobh.