The computer-aided neuro-navigation system is the latest technology that has revolutionised the manner in which surgeries are performed to remove brain or spine tumour, according to KG Hospital chairman Dr. G. Bakthavathsalam.
The hospital is equipped with the state-of-the-art neuro-navigation system that has come as a boon for the patients suffering from brain or spine tumour and it does away with the customary practice of breaking open the skull to reach the tumour, Bakthavathsalam said in a release on Wednesday.

The unwanted tissue growth in the brain, however big it may be, could be excised by making just a few milli metre-size hole in the skull, he said.

The Head, Department of Spine and Neurosurgery, Dr. R.R. Ravi, said earlier the surgeons had to totally rely upon their judgment in reaching the lesion in the brain for which they had to cut open the skull to a considerable size. “Even then, there might be problems in finding the exact location of the lesion, or where it was actually seated.

In such a case, the exact removal of the lesion would be a far cry. While attempting to remove the lesion in the traditional manner, the surrounding healthy tissues might also get affected to a certain extent,” Ravi said.
The new system would do away with such shortcomings. “It gives a 3-dimensional view of the brain, thus helping the surgeon in locating the lesion seated in the vital areas of the brain,” he pointed out.

Just as the Global Positioning System helps a motorist to cruise his way through an unfamiliar route with ease, the neuro-navigation system helps the surgeon to land the surgical tools right on the “hidden” lesion, he said.

Ravi noted that this highly manoeuvrable system would help to perform the required surgery in quick time and that too with absolute precision. To prove his point, Ravi said that a 65-year-old man from Tirupur was brought to the hospital recently, with slurred speech and memory loss. On examination a huge tumour of the size 7 cm x 6 cm was found in the patient’s brain.

After its removal by using the neuro-navigation system, the patient recovered his speech and free movement of the limbs, Ravi said.