Apollo cancer centre performs first brain bypass surgery on twins

Apollo Proton Cancer Centre successfully performed a brain bypass surgery on twin eight-year-old children from the Netherlands, the hospital said on Tuesday.The children were affected by Moyamoya disease - a rare blood vessel vascular disorder in which the carotid artery in the skull is blocked or narrowed reducing blood flow to the brain.

Apollo Proton Cancer Centre successfully performed a brain bypass surgery on twin eight-year-old children from the Netherlands, the hospital said on Tuesday.

The children were affected by Moyamoya disease - a rare blood vessel (vascular) disorder in which the carotid artery in the skull is blocked or narrowed reducing blood flow to the brain. This condition is a relatively uncommon disease and even rare in identical twins, the APCC said.

''This is the first such case to be witnessed in Asia. The condition was diagnosed in eight-year-old twin girls. Over the years, one of them developed vague symptoms like jerky movements in the right hand and leg,'' the APCC said in a release here.

The operation was done by neuro-sciences team led by Dr Roopesh Kumar, senior consultant, neurosurgeon, Apollo Proton Cancer Centre. Due to the lack of medicines for the disease, the doctors offered surgical intervention via a brain bypass surgery wherein the blood supply from the skin of the head would be diverted into the brain through a window created on the skull bone. ''This would facilitate uninterrupted blood flow to the brain without the risk of developing strokes,'' the release said.

The surgery, which the hospital claims to be first in Asia, lasted for nearly five hours. The procedures showed successful outcomes, and the patients recovered well. Consecutive scans showed improved blood circulation on the left side of the brain, it said.

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