The neurosurgeons of the St. Panteleimon Hospital independently performed the intervention with awakening for the first time. The patient was conscious for 50 minutes during brain surgery.
The patient is 49-year-old Oleksandr from Lviv. Last year in September, he learned that his wife had cancer. Then the man had his first seizure. He thought that it was due to stress, and he directed all his efforts to the treatment of his wife. This year, in February, when Oleksandr’s son went to war, he again had convulsive attacks several times a day. In addition to seizures, the man suffered from headaches, impaired memory and speech.
Oleksandr decided to seek help from the neurosurgeons of the Saint Panteleimon Hospital. Specialists conducted an examination, in particular, an MRI with contrast, and discovered a tumor measuring 6 by 5 centimeters in the patient’s brain. The neoplasm affected the left frontotemporal lobe, which is responsible for speech, memory and movements. The tumor had to be removed.
In order to reduce the risks and not to damage important areas of the brain during the operation, neurosurgeons decided to perform the operation while awake. AWAKE SURGERY is an operation during which the patient is awakened before the immediate removal of the tumor. And during this part of the intervention, the person on the operating table is conscious. This is necessary in order not to damage functionally important structures of the brain during the removal of the tumor.
Everything happened with the participation of a large multidisciplinary team of doctors: surgeons, neurophysiologists, anesthesiologists and speech therapists. At the beginning of the intervention, Oleksandr was under anesthesia. After 50 minutes, the man was conscious and answered the control questions of the speech therapist. Meanwhile, neurosurgeons carefully removed the tumor. They managed to avoid damage to vital areas of the brain.
The operation lasted three hours and was successful. The very next day after the intervention, Oleksandr was transferred from intensive care to a regular ward. And already on the fifth day, the man went home. He is infinitely grateful to the doctors for the jewelry work. There is no tumor, as well as convulsive attacks. And his wife overcame cancer. All that Alexander needs for complete happiness is the victory of Ukraine and the return of his son from the front.