R ARIVANANTHAM
CHENNAI, JAN 12
Coimbatore-based Royal Care Super Speciality Hospital has announced, on Thursday, that it had successfully performed MRgFUS procedure, a knife-less brain surgery on 16 patients.
Addressing reporters, Dr Madeswaran, Chairman, Royal Care Super Speciality Hospital Ltd claimed the ‘MRI guided – FUS’ procedure, a first-of-its-kind in the Indian Sub-Continent and that it will be a game changer.
- ‘MRI guided – FUS’ procedure, a first-of-its-kind in Indian Sub-Continent and that it will be a game changer: Dr K Madeswaran, Chairman, Royal Care Super Speciality Hospital Ltd.
- The procedure which lasts over 3 and half hours for each patient can cost around Rs. 20 lakh as of now
He said that this is the India’s First knife-less Brain Surgery Magnetic Resonance-guided focused Ultrasound Surgery (MRgFUS) – A New Technology for the treatment of Essential Tremors and Tremor Dominant Parkinson’s disease.
Dr Madeswaran told navjeevanexpress.com that the ultra-modern high cost medical equipment has been imported from Isreal recently. The equipment manufacturer assisted in performing the first of its kind procedure at Royal Care Hospital.
The procedure which lasts over 3 and half hours for each patient can cost around Rs. 20 lakh as of now. Few patients who had undergone this procedure got insurance claims, as this procedure has been approved by the FDA as well as the Government of India, he added.
When asked whether this procedure comes under the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister’s Comprehensive Health Insurance Scheme, he said that the hospital will soon write to the government in this regards.
Dr Madeswaran further said, “Collimated Ultrasound targeting the VIM nucleus with submillimetre precision is a boon to patients with Essential Tremor (ET). Since the first appearance of a randomised control trial in the NEJM in 2015, scores of patients have been treated all over the world with this technology.”
The advantages of this new procedures are
- Submillimetre precision,
- No major complications,
- Real time monitoring during procedure,
- No anaesthesia,
- No incision/blood loss,
- Almost 100% effective
- Totally non-invasive.
Dr K Vijayan, Consultant Neurologist & Neuro Sonologist, Royal Care Super Speciality Hospital said, “The tremor vanishes immediately after the procedure and one can get rid of all the drugs. Due to its non-invasive nature the procedure itself is complete in about 2-3 days. At present it has been approved for Essential Tremor and Tremor dominant Parkinson’s disease. Indications are expanding (exploding) with new targets being identified for various problems”.
“The GPi (Globus Pallidus interna) has been identified for rigidity and hypokinesia of PD. The pallido thalamic tract (PPT) is also being worked upon for the same purpose. Various dystonia’s can also be treated by targeting the ventralis oralis (VO) nucleus. The indication is also being expanded for treatment of resistant epilepsy-mesial temporal lobe sclerosis. Targeting tumours and opening the blood brain barrier is also in the pipeline. This treatment modality is now being introduced for the first time in India in Coimbatore. This game changer is well within your reach”, Dr.Vijayan further added.
First report of 16 patients with tremors treated with MRg FUS from the Indian Subcontinent
Stereotactic lesioning of the Ventralis inter medialis of the thalamus has been in vogue for many decades now. Newer targets have been identified for various neurological diseases. Safe and effective lesioning of these targets has finally been achieved with the use of MRgFUS. Herein we report our initial experience in 16 cases using MRgFUS. This is the first case series report from the Indian subcontinent.
16 consecutive cases of tremor -6 Essential Tremor 1 case of dystonic tremor, 2 case of spinocerebellar ataxia type 13, and 6 cases of Tremor Dominant Parkinson’s Disease are reported. All these cases were subjected to VIM Thalamotomy using MRgFUS. The VO nucleus was included in two cases of TDPD and one case of hand dystonia with tremor. In one case of PD lesion was placed in the Forel’s H1 field in addition to VIM.
