Nov 15 2007
Ghana makes medical history - Deep Brain Surgery
Medical history was made and a major breakthrough in brain surgery in Ghana recorded last week, when a team of brain surgeons at the Tema International Neuro-Center (TIN), which is housed in the Narh-Bita Hospital at Tema, successfully performed a seven-hour operation to treat a patient suffering from Parkinson’s disease.
“For the first time in Ghana and indeed sub-Saharan Africa, a patient with Parkinson’s disease had a brain pacemaker placed within the sensitive structure of the brain, in order to stop the disabling, abnormal movements in the patient”, the leader of the team of surgeons, Dr Nii Bonney Andrews, explained.
Parkinson’s disease is a disorder of the nervous system characterised by violent trembling of the hands, arms, legs, jaw, and face as well as stiffness of the limbs and trunk. Victims of Parkinson’s disease have great difficulty walking and only manage to shuffle along.
Other symptoms of the disease include difficulty in swallowing, chewing, speaking, urinary problems, constipation, skin problems, and sleep disruptions.
Dr Andrews said Parkinson’s disease patients also had great difficulty getting up, after sitting for a while. “They literally get stuck in chairs after sitting for some time”, he said.
The brain surgeon said the 63-year old patient who underwent DBS surgery last week made significant progress within hours of the operation. The patient was able to walk better, his tremors decreased considerably and 48 hours after the surgery, he was able to sit for more than an hour, playing an exciting game of chess which is his favourite pastime, Dr Andrews said.
There are currently no blood or laboratory tests that have been proven to help in diagnosing the Parkinson’s disease, which tends to afflict people in their 50s and older, Dr Andrews said a diagnosis of the disease is therefore mainly based on the medical history and a neurological examination of persons suspected to be suffering from early stages of the disease.
Dr Andrews said Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS), which is employed to correct these abnormalities, was performed for the first time ever in 1994, in Greno, France. Since then, numerous clinical reports from all over the world have confirmed major improvements for all Parkinson’s disease symptoms in patients who have undergone DBS surgery”, the Ghanaian brain surgeon said.
He told the Daily Graphic that the patient had been suffering from Parkinson’s disease for 20 years and had not been able to walk steadily. He fell frequently and had multiple shoulder dislocations as a result. He also shook uncontrollably and had great difficulty rising from a chair.
The surgeon described DBS as “a very complex and delicate operation requiring highly specialised skills and technology” and said its successful performance in Ghana “is a fine example of Ghanaian expertise linking up with international know-how, to improve medical outcomes in patients and expand medical knowledge.”
According to Dr Andrews, “there was an air of great excitement among the surgeons, as the first electrode was passed deep into the brain of the patient.” He said this was because for the first time in surgical intervention in Ghana, “the electrical charge from living and functioning cells deep within the human brain could be heard by surgeons as specific rhythmic sounds.”
Dr Andrews gave an account of the dramatic events which unfolded on that memorable day last week, culminating in the historic medical feat.
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