The Neurosurgery department of Agartala Government Medical College (AGMC) completed surgery on an 18-year old female patient to remove a giant spinal cord tumor successfully.
Speaking to the media in Agartala on Thursday, neurosurgeon Dr Sidda Reddy said he along with anaesthetist Dr Debasish Das, team of nurses and assistants conducted the surgery on September 17 last.
After a successful surgical procedure, Dr Sidda Reddy and his team successfully removed the giant spinal cord tumor (360gm in weight and 13X11 cm in size).
Detailing about the successful neuro-operation, Dr Reddy said, “The patient namely Mousumi Barman of South Anandanagar Srinagar in Agartala had complaints of low back pain and tingling sensation of Bilateral Lower limb. She also had a difficulty in walking for one year”.
Before coming to AGMC, the patient consulted doctors at Silchar where it was diagnosed as a giant spinal cord tumor known as Lumbar Schwannoma.
At Silchar, the patient and her relatives were advised to consult Neurosurgeon at Delhi as surgery for Lumbar Schwannoma will not be possible there. Besides, the approximate cost of surgery would be Rs 3 lakh excluding medicine cost which Mousumi’s family was unable to bear owing to poor financial condition.
They returned to Tripura and consulted the Neurosurgery department of AGMC.
“We conducted the surgery on September 17 last. The surgery continued for around 5 hours and ultimately we were successful in removing the tumor”, Dr Reddy said.
Talking about post-operation condition of the patient, Dr Reddy said, “After operation, the patient has no pain and she can walk comfortably”.
Mentioning the complexity in performing operation for such Lumbar Schwannoma, he said, “Normally these cases require a team consisting of Vascular surgeons and others as the tumor is very close to major blood vessels. However, we managed the situation and patient is doing fine now”.
He concluded after saying, “The department has so far conducted 499 Neurosurgery operations”.
