Neurosurgery in India

The skull is opened over the tumour and as much of it removed as can be done safely. Where the tumour lies near areas controlling speech or movement, the operation may be performed with the patient awake so that function can be tested continuously during removal. Intraoperative monitoring, neuronavigation and fluorescence guidance all improve how much tumour can be taken without causing new deficit.

Tumours at the base of the brain — most commonly of the pituitary gland — are reached through the nose with an endoscope, avoiding any opening of the skull and any visible scar. Recovery is markedly quicker than after open surgery. It requires a neurosurgeon and an ENT surgeon operating together, which not every centre offers.

A brain aneurysm is secured either by placing a titanium clip across its neck through an open operation, or by filling it with platinum coils delivered through a catheter from the groin. Which is appropriate depends on the aneurysm's size, shape and position, not on preference — and both should be available at the centre treating you.

A catheter is passed to the blocked artery in the brain and the clot physically retrieved. It is among the most effective treatments in modern medicine — and among the most time-critical. It must be done within hours of the stroke beginning, which means at the nearest capable hospital, never after international travel.

Fine electrodes are placed into precisely targeted structures deep in the brain and connected to a pacemaker-like generator under the collarbone. For Parkinson's disease, tremor and dystonia it can transform daily function where medication has stopped controlling symptoms adequately. Patient selection matters more than surgical technique.

Where seizures continue despite two properly tried medications, surgery to remove or disconnect the region generating them can render a substantial proportion of patients seizure-free. It requires extensive pre-surgical evaluation — video EEG, MRI, and often PET or invasive recording — which is itself the reason to travel to a centre that does this work regularly.

Excess fluid within the brain is diverted, either by a shunt draining to the abdomen or by making an internal opening endoscopically so the fluid can escape without any implant. In infants and in normal pressure hydrocephalus in older adults, treatment can produce dramatic improvement.

Highly focused radiation delivered in one or a few sessions, with no incision at all. It treats small tumours, arteriovenous malformations, acoustic neuromas, and trigeminal neuralgia. It is not surgery and it is not instant — lesions shrink over months — but for the right target it avoids an operation entirely.