KOCHI: Doctors have successfully completed a Silk Vista Flow Diverter stenting procedure -- a new technology that offers greater visibility, perfection, and lesser complexities for the patient -- for the first time in a Kerala hospital.
A native of Ernakulam, aged 55, reported with a headache and visual disturbances and the patient's MRI scan showed a giant aneurysm arising from the main artery supplying the brain. The patient had a previous history of another intracranial aneurysm that was treated by surgical clipping a few years back, said a release by Aster Medcity Hospital in Kochi, where the procedure was done.
Considering the patient's symptoms and location and size of the aneurysm, it was decided to perform the 'flow diversion' procedure. The Silk Vista is the latest type of Flow Diverter stent that offers higher visibility and better deployment and thereby increases safety. The technique enables doctors to divert the blood flow away from the aneurysm and to heal the aneurysm progressively.
Dr Vijay Jayakrishnan, senior consultant in interventional neuroradiology, said Silk Vista was introduced for endovascular treatment of brain aneurysms for the first time in Kerala. In this case, the patient left the hospital within 48 hours of the procedure. Flow Diverter stents are promising to be a great advantage in treating large and complex aneurysms in certain areas of the brain and technical advancements like the Silk Vista are very helpful.
A brain aneurysm is a sac or a bulge in the wall of an artery supplying the brain that balloons out and is filled with blood. Brain aneurysms can rupture which is a condition needing urgent treatment or can get to large size and cause pressure effect on adjacent nerves etc.
Warning signs for an aneurysm are severe headaches, blurred or double vision, pain in the eyes, and sometimes paralysis of limbs and speaking difficulty.
The teams at Aster Medicity led by Dr Vijay Jayakrishnan, senior consultant, interventional neuroradiologist, Dr Dilip Panikar, senior consultant neurosurgeon, and Dr Jithendra, consultant in neuro anesthesia and critical care, were in charge of the procedure and periprocedural care of the patient.