Rare brain surgery performed on 8-yr-old twins in Tamil Nadu

Chennai, Nov 30 (IANS) In a rare feat in medical science, the doctors at the Apollo hospital here performed brain surgery on eight-year-old twins suffering from Moyamoya disease.

The disease led the twins to suffer from jerky movements in the right hand and leg and doctors diagnosed a rare brain condition in them. An MRI revealed that the children were suffering from a low blood supply to the brain, especially to the left area. Doctors said that in this rare blood vessel disorder condition, the carotid artery in the skull is narrowed or blocked, leading to reduced blood flow to the brain.

Doctors also diagnosed that the disease was a form of limb-shaking epilepsy and the children were referred to Apollo hospital, Chennai. Dr. Roopesh Kumar, who led the surgery team, while speaking to reporters said, "The Moyamoya disease was first diagnosed in Japan in the 1960s and is also known as a puff of smoke and the cause is still not known."

The team of Apollo doctors did a brain bypass surgery which led to the blood from the skin of the head being diverted to the brain through a window created in the skull of the head.

Dr. Roopesh Kumar also said that Moyamoya disease affects the brain vessels inside the skull and vessels beneath the skin. He said that these vessels were very small and less than 1 mm in thickness. Doctor Roopesh Kumar said, "We identify and separate these small vessels and then stitch the outside blood vessels to the one inside."

Doctors told the media persons that this method was used as there would be uninterrupted flow of blood into the brain without any possibility of developing strokes. The procedure went off smoothly and the children recovered from the ailment the blood circulation to the left side of the brain was also retained as earlier.

According to the Apollo Hospital, this was Asia's first brain bypass surgery on twin children affected with Moyamoya disease.