A team of Ghanaian doctors performs brain surgery without cutting the skull and this is the first time ever

Reports revealed that a seven-member team of Ghanaians conducted the surgery at the Euracare Advanced Diagnostic and Heart Centre, a private health facility in Accra.

The minimally invasive brain surgery is the technique by which health workers safely remove brain and skull-base tumours through smaller and more precise openings that minimise collateral damage; that is, injury or other damage inflicted on an unintended target such as blood vessels and nerves.

Technically known as ‘Endovascular brain aneurysm coiling’ the technique passes a tube (catheter) through the groin (the junctional area between the abdomen and the thigh on either side of the pubic bone) up into the artery containing the brain aneurysm, a process known as endovascular coiling or coil embolisation.

The surgery was performed within two hours with modern equipment and computer software at the centre and this is the first ever surgery performed in the country without cutting the skull.

The surgery was led by Dr Benjamin Dabo Sarkodie, an interventional radiologist at Euracare.

According to him, the patient, who suffered a condition has been discharged and is currently recuperating.

A team of Ghanaian doctors performs first-ever brain surgery without cutting the skull Pulse Ghana

The other doctors were from the Stroke Unit of the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital and Euracare. They included Dr Itsvan Lazar, an interventional radiologist, Dr Albert Akpaloo, a neurologist and Head of the Stroke Unit, Korle Bu, Dr Emmanuel Voado, a neurosurgeon, Dr Owusu Darkwa, an anaesthetist, Dr David Brodie-Mends and Dr Fiifi Duodo.

About brain aneurysm

Brain aneurysm, also known as cerebral aneurysm, is a weak spot in the wall of a blood vessel inside the brain. It is a bulging, weakened area in the wall of an artery in the brain, resulting in an abnormal widening, ballooning or blistering.

That area of the blood vessel gets worn out from a constant flow of blood and bulges out, almost like a bubble. Because there was a weakened spot in the aneurysmal wall, there was the risk of a sudden burst (rupture) of the aneurysm, a life-threatening situation.

The condition could lead to reduced blood flow to the brain, too much spinal fluid in the brain, coma, permanent brain damage and death.

The condition, which is fatal, affects men and women of all ages.

A team of Ghanaian doctors performs brain surgery without cutting the skull and this is the first time ever

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