KOTA KINABALU – A hospital in Sabah has performed the state’s first brain surgery on a fully conscious patient.
The surgery was conducted in Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QEH) II in collaboration with Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS) last Thursday (January 12).
Sabah Health Director Datuk Dr Rose Nani Mudin said the six-hour “awake craniotomy” involved a 50-year-old woman who has been experiencing headache symptoms since October 2022.
Dr Rose said she was later diagnosed with multiple meningiomas, or primary central nervous system tumours, on the left side of her brain by doctors at the Duchess of Kent Hospital, Sandakan.
“The operation was conducted by brain surgery specialists from QEH II, Dr M. Sofan Zenian and Dr Hezry Abu Hasan, with Dr Yeap Boon Tat from UMS, and Dr Liew Boon Seng from Sungai Buloh Hospital,” she said in a statement today.
Rose said during the surgery, the patient was conscious throughout the operation, and the sedation technique used was also the first to be done in Sabah.
“The patient was able to spell her name and sing a simple song during the surgery,” she added.
She said thorough preparations and discussions between QEH II, Duchess of Kent Hospital, and UMS had started in November last year for the surgery.
Awake craniotomy was introduced to the world in early 2000. It has been performed in Malaysia in 2010 in several hospitals on the peninsula.
Generally, hospitals would provide general anaesthesia to patients undergoing brain surgery, but the awake craniotomy method would ensure that the patient’s respiratory tract remains unaffected.
Rose thanked all parties involved in making the surgery a success and hopes that it will lead to more success for such surgeries in the future. – The Vibes, January 15, 2023
