City hospital removes complex tumour located in a critical area of the brain

A team of neurosurgeons at Gleneagles Hospital in Chennai has successfully removed a rare and complex tumour located in a critical area of the brain of a 30-year-old man diagnosed with a rare and newly-recognised aggressive brain tumour classified by the World Health Organization in 2021.

It was located deep within a critical and surgically challenging area of the brain, very close to the brain stem and major blood vessels. The team of doctors, headed by Nigel Symss, senior consultant neurosurgeon, and Venkatesan Sanjeevi, senior consultant neurosurgeon, performed a two-stage surgical procedure that lasted approximately eight hours, and successfully removed the tumour without any complications.

The first procedure involved an emergency ventriculoperitoneal shunt (VP shunt) to drain the excess cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) from the brain, to relieve the life-threatening hydrocephalus complications. This was followed by a second surgery using a supracerebellar infratentorial approach, enabling safe access to the deep-seated tumour. With the help of advanced neurosurgical tools, the team achieved near total removal of the tumour without any complications. The patient had relief from his symptoms, a release added.