New Delhi: Honestly speaking, but for the excellent surgery in BLK, 8 year old Joyford Honest would not have survived such risky cancerous brain tumour excision procedure. The tumour was size of a cricket ball weighing 600gm and lodged in a very chancy area of the brain very few Neurosurgeons would dare to tread.
After you Google for finding out about such surgery, you would be forgiven for exclaiming Howzzat! Though the doctor refrained from claiming the brain tumour of Joy being globally the largest, the literature certainly does not speak of such large tumour being excised so far. Impeccable and faultless surgery by Dr. Anil Kansal, Director & HOD – Neuro Surgery & Neuro Spine in BLK Centre for Neurosciences and his team took six hours. Complete excision of such large tumour is a rarity indeed he claimed. It was a half robotic surgery he added.
After having new lease of life, Joyford is now a real bundle of joy. Her mother Jeneth Buretta , a banker, did not think twice about splurging money for saving her daughter saying in Tanzania daughters are treated at par with sons which may not be the case in India.
‘Joyford was admitted to the hospital with complaints of recurrent seizures, vomiting, aphasia, urinary incontinence, diminution of vision, and right side weakness of the body. MRI BRAIN was suggestive of a large left frontal mass lesion with midline shift which was occupying more than half of the cerebral hemisphere with a tumour size of 8.7×8.6×7.8cm,” said Dr. Anil Kansal.
“Brain tumors are rare in kids specifically and such large size tumours are rarest. In Joyford’s case, this highly vascular tumour presented several risks of surgery including the risk of paralysis of a limb or any other neurological deficit. Excess bleeding during surgery was also a major risk. With a thought-through process, we planned a microscopic resection of the tumour. Surgery was successful and post-operative patient was perfectly fine without any neurological complication, which was a major risk in this case. The tumour biopsy showed that the tumour was cancerous and patient underwent radiation therapy at the hospital,” elaborated Dr. Kansal.
“Once again, our team of highly skilled surgeons performed an advanced surgery to give a new lease of life to Joyford. We were confident to provide her best-in-class treatment and care. She was discharged after 7th day of surgery that took place in last December” added Dr Kansal.
“Doctors all in Tanzania warned the surgery would bring her end. We came to BLK Super Speciality Hospital and met Dr Anil Kansal and his team and they explained us her condition and further plan of treatment. Joyford was admitted in the hospital and doctors performed this rare surgery and saved my daughter’s life. We express our sincere gratitude towards Dr. Anil Kansal and team for giving a new lease of life to Joyford. Now her treatment is completed and we are going back to our native country tomorrow with a sense of peace and happiness,” said Janeth mother of Joyford.
According to experts, an ependymoma is a primary central nervous system (CNS) tumour. This means it begins in the ependymal cells in the brain and spinal cord that lines the passageway where the cerebrospinal fluid nourishes the brain flow.
