Over 100 awake craniotomy surgeries in Siddhasiri Hospital and Research Centre

Neurosurgeon Shivashankar Marajke, neuro- anesthesiologist Prakash Bharam Gouda and others from Siddhasiri Hospital and Research Centre of Kaneri Math speaking to reporters in Belagavi on Thursday.
| Photo Credit: P.K. Badiger

Surgeons at the Siddhasiri Hospital and Research Centre at Kaneri Math in Kolhapur of Maharashtra have conducted 103 awake craniotomy procedures, brain surgeries, while patients were awake.

At a media conference in Belagavi on Thursday, doctors explained the process using videos and data related to the procedures.

Neurosurgeon Shivashankar Marajke, neuro-anesthesiologist Prakash Bharam Gouda and his team told reporters that all the 103 patients remained fully awake throughout the surgeries and walked back to their wards as they were not given general anaesthesia.

They were all under the influence of a special local anaesthetic medicine, the doctors said.

“In one case, the patient was playing the flute while the complex brain surgery was being performed on him. The general anaesthesia is avoided for several reasons, including damage to other parts like the language or ambulation areas. If the regulatory part of the brain is injured or traumatized, as a side effect, a part of the body or the regulatory power may become permanently disabled. Therefore, it is more beneficial to keep the patient awake during such operations. But due to the high risk of doing such operations, such operations are avoided in many places,” the surgeon said.

“The Kaneri Math Hospital is among the dozen-odd facilities in the country where such surgeries are possible due to skilled manpower and hi-tech equipment. Most of the patients were beneficiaries of State and Central government health assurance projects and insurance schemes,” Dr. Marajke said.

“Despite being situated in a rural area, the hospital has established a reputation for its empathetic treatment and charitable service,” seer Sri Kadasiddeshwar Swami said.

He said that the math did not consider healthcare as a business. “On an average, our fees are 10 times lower than those in corporate hospitals. Such institutions are always trying to lure away our doctors. But they have stayed with us for over a decade as they are dedicated to serving the poor,” the seer said.

The hospital has a 100-bed allopathic hospital and a 50-bed Ayurvedic hospital. it has a state-of-the-art tractography and neuronavigation machine, neuro-monitoring machine, MRI and other machines. Procedures like angiography and angioplasty are performed free for the poor, the seer said.