Dr Akbar Ali Khan, a renowned Consultant Neurosurgeon at Shifa International Hospital, has performed the country’s first ever successful awake brain tumor surgery in the federal capital.
According to hospital sources, awake brain tumor surgery is a neurosurgical technique that allows the surgeon to remove brain tumor while the patient is awake to avoid brain damage.
Dr Akbar performed awake brain surgery on a 50-year-old patient from Buner earlier this week (May 13, 2019). This is a preferred technique to remove lesions close to, or involving functionally important regions of the brain, like area responsible for speech, for movement of limbs, etc.
This allowed Dr Akbar to test regions of the brain before they are removed and allowed him to test patient’s function continuously throughout the operation.
Anesthesia team also played a vital role in anesthetic management of the patient. The overall aim was to minimise the risks of paralysis or loss of speech following such operations.
