A bloated blood vessel inside the head of a two-year-old boy was treated with a minimally-invasive surgery at a private hospital in Kolkata last week.
The boy, who hails from South-24 Parganas, was suffering frequent convulsions when he was referred to the hospital by a local doctor.
A series of tests — including a computed tomography (CT) scan, CT angiography and magnetic resonance angiography — detected a bulging blood vessel in his brain.
"The investigations revealed a giant aneurysm, 10 times larger than what we usually see, in the left middle cerebral artery," said Deep Das, consultant neurologist at CMRI.
A brain aneurysm is a bulge or ballooning in a blood vessel in the brain.
"Experts think brain aneurysms form and grow because blood flowing through the blood vessel puts pressure on a weak area of the vessel wall. If the brain aneurysm leaks or ruptures, it causes bleeding in the brain, known as a haemorrhagic stroke," says the US-based Mayo Clinic website.
The width of the affected vessel in the boy's brain was around 1cm, said Das. "If not treated in time, the condition could have caused speech impairment, paralysis and even death," he said.
Doctors at the Ekbalpore hospital decided on a minimally invasive endovascular approach to treat the child.
A team that included Das, paediatrician Ruchi Golash, and Sailesh Kumar, the head of the anaesthesiology department, did the procedure on February 22.
A small puncture was made in his groin and a catheter was inserted. The catheter was used to implant a device that would block the abnormal blood flow into the affected vessel.
"We implanted an endovascular flow diverter to regulate blood flow and prevent aneurysm entry of blood, thereby encouraging its shrinkage over time," said Das.
The procedure lasted close to 90 minutes.
"The patient, post-surgery, shows no signs of deficits. The boy will be discharged very soon but it will take a couple of months for the vessel to shrink to its normal size," said Das.
"This success story reflects the collaborative efforts of our medical team and advancements in the field, marking a milestone in paediatric neurovascular care," said a spokesperson for the hospital.