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Media Center / . / KFMC Succeeds in Connecting Tiny Brain Arteries for a Female Stroke Patient

KFMC Succeeds in Connecting Tiny Brain Arteries for a Female Stroke Patient

11/12/2019 12:00 AM

 

A surgical team from King Fahad Medical City (KFMC) has successfully performed one of the most complicated and strangest operations of its kind, connecting the scalp arteries to brain arteries for a female patient who had a stroke causing a temporary weakness in the right side of her body.

Dr. Abdullah Alobaid, Neurosurgery Consultant at KFMC National Neuroscience Institute and the head of the surgical team, explained that the interventional radiology showed a severe narrowing of the blood vessels in the brain, which didn't respond to drugs as an initial therapy, calling for surgical intervention to directly connect external scalp arteries to the internal arteries in the brain. The operation lasted for about 6 hours.

The head of the surgical team clarified that the operation was successfully performed using a microscope and small stitches invisible to the naked eye, which helped to restore smooth blood flow. Eventually the patient felt much better after the operation. CT scan showed no bleeding nor any other complications and the patient was able to leave KFMC within 72 hours after the operation.

Dr. Alobaid emphasized that such operations are performed in the traditional way utilizing synangiosis. With the new technique, especially in cases of brain strokes, direct bypass anastomosis procedures are implemented. Dr. Alobaid stated that this kind of procedures requires high accuracy and magnification using microscope and microsurgery instruments, pointing out that KFMC now has internationally qualified cadres comparable to those in the developed countries and who can perform the most complicated operations with great efficiency.