Lviv neurosurgeons perform brain surgery on 4-year-old from Northern Ireland
Pravda Ukraine
Lviv paediatric neurosurgeons have performed complicated brain surgery on a 4-year-old patient from abroad who suffered from severe seizures. Those seizures threatened the child’s life and halted her development.
The First Medical Union of Lviv has said that this is the first time a patient from abroad has been operated on at the Centre for Neurosurgery and Epilepsy Surgery. Rachel Gribben’s family travelled 3,000 kilometres in search of medical care.
“When the girl was one and a half years old, her parents noticed that she was somehow lagging behind in development. The baby also had minor body twitches. A few months later, she suffered her first severe seizure.
Doctors diagnosed epilepsy with epileptic spasms. This is a type of seizure that causes charges throughout the brain. The doctors also found focal cortical dysplasia, that is, poorly developed gyrus of the brain, which provoked seizures,” the doctors say.
Over time, little Rachel’s seizures became more severe and more frequent. Despite the use of anticonvulsant therapy, the seizures hindered her development.
American neurosurgeon Luke Tomycz told Rachel’s parents that 80-90% of her seizures could be relieved by surgery. He advised them to seek help from Lviv doctors. Despite the threat of missile attacks, Rachel’s parents travelled to Ukraine.
The doctors conducted a full examination of the child in Lviv to determine the exact location of the epileptogenic activity. They found a zone that coincided with the area of malformation, i.e. cortical pathology.
Having gathered all the information, the neurosurgeons started planning the surgery, as it was crucial to choose the safest way to access the affected area of the brain.
The operation took seven hours and was successful. The doctors say that the intervention achieved the desired result, and the seizures are completely absent and will no longer delay Rachel’s development. The girl has already come back home.
Background: Earlier in Lviv, doctors saved a newborn whose lung was covered with cysts. She could have died at any moment.
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