Dr. Prashant Jain
Sr. Consultant
Paediatric Surgery
BLK Centre of Neonatal,
Paediatric and Adolescent
Medicine
BLK Super Speciality Hospital


“The main challenge of minimally invasive surgery is to create space inside the chest cavity. This space is created by filling the chest cavity by carbon dioxide gas. Another difficult task was to dissect Tumour without damaging adjacent organs.”

THE CASE
At just a tender age of one year, young Ayaan had to suffer a lot because of a rarest of rare medical condition - a dancing eye and feet syndrome that causes abnormal jerky movements of the eyes, head, trunk and extremities. With a rare occurrence of 1 in 10 million, this medical condition represents a serious problem with a Tumour near the Lung and Heart Arteries. The critical condition of their son left the parents immensely worried and clueless until they reached BLK Super Speciality Hospital in New Delhi. A team of doctors at the Hospital lost little time in diagnosing and performed a life-saving non-invasive surgery to give the child a new lease of life.

THE PROCEDURE
The initial assessment of the child revealed a neurological disorder, which appears to be the result of an autoimmune process involving the nervous system. A rare presentation of a Tumour originating from neural tissue (Neuroblastoma) was diagnosed. An MRI of the Chest and Spine revealed a well-defied moderately enhancing Tumour close to the side of the Spine. The Tumour was lying close to the major vessel (Aorta), however there were no signs of Tumour elsewhere. Doctors had to deal with the challenge of removing the Tumour completely without damaging the adjacent organs. After much deliberation, doctors decided for the relatively painless minimally invasive surgery (Thoracoscopy), as the open surgery was fraught with risks and included long duration of hospitalisation.
This procedure was a definitive forward move in this domain of medical science and is still being studied carefully worldwide.

THE RESULT
After a challenging surgery, the Tumour was successfully removed by gently separating it from the Aorta. The biopsy of the Tumour and genetic testing confirmed pre-operative diagnosis of Neuroblastoma. The child was shifted in the Paediatric Intensive Care unit for monitoring. He was discharged after two days but was advised to be on regular follow-up with a Paediatric Oncologist. Recently, Ayaan visited the hospital for his follow-up and is doing perfectly fine.