Bengaluru: A German doctor has provided a vital lifeline to a city based woman, who was suffering from a rare disease, by donating two sophisticated stents, which cost around Rs 8 lakh each.
Dr Hans Henkes, Professor Interventional Neuroradiologist, based in Stuttgart, came to Bengaluru on June 15 to help a needy patient get specialised flow diverter stents, who later underwent a successful surgery.
The patient, Shylaja (56), who was suffering from a rare case of a complex aneurysm also reached out to Nimhans where the stents were costing her some Rs 5-6 lakh rupees each.
The surgery was complex and was done by senior Consultant Neurologist Dr J.B. Agadi, Dr Ravi Mohan Rao, senior consultant Neurosurgeon and Dr Sharath Kumar G.G., Consultant Interventional Neuroradiologist at Apollo hospital. They decided to go ahead with coiling of the largest aneurysm followed by placing a flow diverter stent across the diseased artery.
During an MRI scan it was revealed that the patient was suffering from occlusion of both carotid arteries of brain, which was compensated by another two vertebral artery, which unfortunately had complex multiple aneurysms on it.
Most brain aneurysms patients do not display any symptoms and the ailment is detected only during tests. In some cases, an unruptured aneurysm will cause problems by pressing on areas in the brain. When this happens, the patient may suffer from severe headaches, blurred vision, changes in speech, and neck pain, depending on what areas of the brain are affected and how bad the aneurysm is. Symptoms of a ruptured brain aneurysm often come on suddenly. "The patient’s arteries were blocked and the only vessel was also diseased, due to which her life was at risk and we had to perform the surgery immediately, which was the biggest challenge for us. The cost of the stent was high and the family could not afford. We wanted to help the family, said Dr Sharath Kumar G G, Consultant Interventional Neuroradiologist- Apollo Hospital, Bengaluru.
The stents were donated by Dr Henkes at the right time and this helped us in performing the surgery successfully, he added.
"We were extremely disheartened when we came to know about the cost of the stents. However, when Dr Sharath informed us about the stents being donated by a German radiologist, we were relieved. The German doctor went out of his way and helped us by arranging free stents, for which thanking him is not enough," sums up Chandan, Shyalaja's son.
