GOVERNMENT OF JAMMU AND KASHMIR
SHER – I – KASHMIR INSTITUTE OF MEDICAL SCIENCES
SOURA, SRINAGAR

PRESS RELEASE:

Endoscopic Technique (Third Ventriculostomy) Goodbye to Brain Shunts

Relief for Poor Patients

Srinagar 27-7-2015:   Endoscopic Technique, the latest surgical procedure started by the department of Neurosurgery at SKIMS has come as a great relief to the patients with neurological condition called hydrocephalus. The procedure is done at few centres in the country and SKIMS is one among them.

Dr. Nayil Khursheed, prominent Neurosurgeon at SKIMS explains that children who are born with blockage in the cerebrospinal fluid pathways with the result that the head becomes very big and difficult to manage by the parents and would require implantation of a silastic tubing which would drain the excess brain fluid into the abdomen. However the problems with the shunt are many. It often gets infected, there are high chances of blockage and it can migrate to an abnormal site in the body where it can cause severe problems. In place of this, endoscopic technique being used by Neurosurgeons at SKIMS is very patient friendly and very latest surgical procedure.

Dr. Nayil said patients with this neurological condition are easily treated here with this advanced surgical procedure and SKIMS has state-of-the-art endoscopic technique, wherein there is no need to put a silastic shunt tubing. In this technique a 5-mm hole is made in the floor of the 3rd ventricle which bypasses the obstruction. Besides avoiding a foreign body and hence all the attending complications of a shunt this technique is more cosmetic as there is no incision mark on the abdomen - a scar which is so disfiguring especially for girl-child. It also is psychologically more acceptable as the constant feeling of foreign body beneath the skin is avoided. The department of Neurosurgery has successfully completed more than 30 endoscopic third ventriculostomies. All the patients were discharged home in healthy and stable conditions. There were no complications and no deaths, he added.

The department of Neurosurgery ,SKIMS hailed director SKIMs for his support  and making possible to start this new procedure  here at SKIMS  with the availability of required state-of-the-art equipment and infrastructure.

Issued through

PRO, SKIMS