HMC successfully performs highly-specialized wide-awake brain surgery

A team of neurosurgeons at Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC) has successfully performed a highly specialized brain tumor removal procedure resection of a complex brain tumor, known as a Glioma. The procedure, the first of a kind in Qatar, was performed with intra-operative neuro-monitoring and neuropsychological support.The 40-year-old patient, who was wide-awake and conscious during the procedure, left the hospital, in good health, five days after the surgery.The procedure, which involved using the latest MRI and 3-D brain mapping and imaging technology and lasted 5 hours, was performed by a team of 10 surgery professionals lead by Neurosurgery and Neuro-intervention consultant at HMC Dr. Ghaya Al Rumaihi.The surgery had to be performed with the patient conscious due to the fact that the tumor was so close to lobe responsible for consciousness and speech in the brain, the patient needed to be kept interactive and responsive with the team, allowing the team to remove the tumor without inflicting any damage to critical areas of the brain.Commenting on the procedure, Dr. Ghaya Al Rumaihi said that not only was the multidisciplinary medical team able to surgically remove the 2nd-degree tumor but also succeeded in reducing the epileptic seizures that the patient suffered as a result of this tumor, while maintaining brain functional skills thus improving the patients life quality."We would like to thank the medical team for its remarkable cooperation and responsiveness to the step-by-step probe of the brains communicative and memory functionalities, using newly introduced intraoperative equipment for language and motor monitoring of patient's directly in their own mother tongue rather than having the monitoring data translated," she said.Speaking on the details of the procedure, Dr. Ghaya Al Rumaihi pointed out that the patient had been diagnosed with a tumor in the left lobe of the brain three years ago with subsequent low growth in size causing speech difficulties, episodes of epilepsy, and sudden left arm paralysis. The surgery had to be performed with the patient wide-awake in order to keep intraoperative monitoring of language and brain cognition functions and mitigate associated risks.Dr. Ghaya affirmed that neurosurgeons who single-handedly operate on similar cases, often fail to properly to treat such complex cases. Only with combined efforts and teamwork of multidisciplinary medical team we can ensure that patients get the comprehensive healthcare they need.Dr. Ghaya stressed that the success of complex brain and spinal cord operations at HMC highlights the rapid developments in the field of health care in Qatar, with the availability of modern and advanced innovations in the field of medical technology