In a rare surgery performed at Sassoon General Hospital (SGH) in Pune, a 42-year-old man got a new lease of life when doctors transplanted a titanium skull on his head. The patient, a resident of Hingoli in Maharashtra, went to Dubai for a job and met with an accident that damaged a major portion of his skull bones.
He underwent major surgery in Dubai to reduce the pressure within the brain, which required removing a portion of the skull. Later, an artificial skull was implanted at SGH. At SGH, a team of expert doctors from the orthopaedic and neurology departments performed the surgery, while the social welfare department worked to raise more funds for the titanium skull and the remaining treatment.
Dr Jaykumar Gunjkar, head of the department of neurosurgery at SGH, said, "The basic principle of brain surgery in case of trauma is to ensure that excess blood flow in the skull, which adds to the pressure within the brain, is released first. The skull is then removed and stored within the body for a few months. Once the pressure is stabilised, the skull is reimplanted. The patient was a labourer who met with an accident in Dubai. He underwent initial surgery there and was subsequently treated by us at SGH. The patient can walk and talk, and we will discharge him tomorrow. The patient was treated free of cost under the Mahatma Jyotirao Phule Jan Arogya Yojana (MJPJAY). This benefit is available to people who hold a yellow ration card."
The doctors performed a procedure called craniotomy to remove the embedded pieces and then reconstruction of the skull defect was done using a customised patient-specific titanium cranial implant.
