MaxCure Doctors Perform ‘Awake’ Brain Surgery 

Hyderabad: ‘Awake’ brain surgeries were performed on three patients at MaxCure hospital in the city. The patients were not given anesthesia and remained wide-awake and interacted with surgeons as they were being operated.

Neurosurgeon Dr Kalyan Bommakanti

Most of the brain tumour surgeries are done under general anesthesia. However, if the tumour is on an important functional region of the brain, surgical removal can lead to significant neurological deficits. Hence, we opt for awake surgeries

Generally, the awake brain surgery is performed on patients who have seizures (fits) due to tumor growth called ‘insula’ in parts of brain.

Elaborating why the patients were not given anesthesia, Neurosurgeon Dr Kalyan Bommakanti said, “Most of the brain tumour surgeries are done under general anesthesia. However, if the tumour is on an important functional region of the brain, surgical removal can lead to significant neurological deficits. Hence, we opt for awake surgeries.”

Surgeries were performed on T Shyamala (37) who had seizures, Purushotham (58) who had tumour on the right motor cortex due to which he felt weakness on left hand and leg. Similarly, the operation was carried out on G Venkateswarlu (50) who was suffering from vascular tumour on the right motor cortex.