A tumour was compressing the optic nerves and pituitary gland resulting in blurred vision and altered behaviour
A special endoscopic skull base team of neurosurgeons, head and neck surgeons were involved in the surgery. Representation pic
A rare nasal surgery at a city hospital saved the eyesight of a 73-year-old woman from Kolhapur recently. Laxmi Patil (Taibai) was experiencing blurred vision in both eyes but due to the pandemic and lockdown, her family avoided taking her to the hospital. Patil was finally brought to Jaslok Hospital two weeks ago after being diagnosed with a large tumour in her brain.
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“When she was brought to us, she had blurred vision in both eyes. The vision in her left eye was more compromised than the right. She also had altered behaviour. She underwent a battery of diagnostic tests which confirmed the presence of a tumour,” said Dr Sudheer Ambekar, consultant, Department of Neurosurgery. He added that the tumour was compressing the optic nerves and the pituitary gland because of which she was experiencing vision loss and altered behaviour.
Why this option
Given her age, the doctors decided to try the nasal route to operate on her on June 5. “Patil was diagnosed with craniopharyngioma — a rare type of noncancerous (benign) brain tumour. Usually, for this tumour, we have an open brain surgery. But given her age, we decided to do an endoscopic surgery via the nasal route,” said Dr Ambekar.
He said apart from reducing the hospital stay, the procedure helps reduce morbidity and there is no external cut in the skull.
A special endoscopic skull base team of neurosurgeons, head and neck surgeons were involved in the three-hour-long surgery.
“A small area at the base of the skull was removed to allow direct access to the tumour which was 4 cm in size, without manipulating the brain. The biggest challenge was extensive drilling of the skull base to reach the tumour and remove it,” said Dr Ambekar.
Son speaks
Patil is presently recuperating in the hospital and will be discharged in a day or two. Prakash, her son said, “She initially complained of blurred vision but we didn’t take it seriously and avoided going to the hospital because of the pandemic. However, when her complaints became acute, we took her to a nearby hospital in Kolhapur where they told us about the tumour and that she needed surgery. We are happy that there is no scar on her head. She looks normal and she can now see properly.”
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