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BGS Gleneagles Global Hospital helps Kenyan patient regain vision after rare endoscopic surgery
IMT News Desk -
1 year ago
BGS Gleneagles Global Hospital helps Kenyan patient regain vision after rare endoscopic surgery
IMT News Desk -
1 year ago
The patient was suffering from idiopathic inflammatory orbital cellulitis
BGS Gleneagles Global Hospital has helped a Kenyan patient, recover from complete blindness after three weeks, thanks to the dedicated efforts of the medical team. The hospital successfully performed a rare endoscopic surgery, which helped her regain her vision in just two days.
The patient has been experiencing severe headaches, eye pain, and high blood sugar levels and had sought medical help in both the US and Kenya with no success. Finally, she landed at BGS Gleneagles Global Hospital in Bengaluru, where she underwent successful treatment.
The patient was suffering from idiopathic inflammatory orbital cellulitis, a condition in which the surrounding tissue of the eyeball develops swelling due to unknown causes, leading to pressure on the eyeball and optic nerve, resulting in swelling of the eyelids and blindness with paralysis of the eye movement muscles.
Dr Kranthi Mohan, Consultant Neurologist at BGS Gleneagles Global Hospital, explained, "She is a known diabetic for the past five years, and doctors elsewhere started her on steroids to control the swelling. This led to high sugar levels."
Her medical condition started in 2021, but the symptoms subsided with steroids. However, the symptoms resurfaced again in December 2022, leading her to seek medical help in the US. Unfortunately, the treatment only provided her with painkillers and anti-inflammatory medications, and the swelling, loss of eye movement, and vision started in the first week of February 2023. After consulting with Dr Mohan on video, she was advised to fly down to India for treatment.
Dr Prashanth R Reddy, Chief ENT and Endoscopic Skull Base Surgeon at BGS Gleneagles Global Hospital said, "She initially presented with complete closure of her eye, and she couldn't move or see anything. We had to perform emergency surgery inside the nose, and it was a miracle that she regained her vision in just two days. The whole surgery was scarless and done endoscopically. We performed endoscopic orbital decompression to reduce swelling in the eye and optic nerve decompression to reduce swelling around the eye nerve."
Endoscopic orbital decompression is a surgery that uses a tiny camera and small tools to remove some of the bone and tissue around the eye through the nose. This helps to reduce pressure inside the eye socket, which can cause swelling and affect eye movement. The surgery does not involve cutting the face.
Endoscopic optic nerve decompression is a surgery that uses a tiny camera and small tools to remove the bone around the optic (vision) nerve through the nose. This helps to improve the flow of fluids and blood to the nerve, which can restore vision that was lost due to pressure on the nerve.
Dr Reddy added, "Patients who experience complete blindness (no perception of light) caused by orbital cellulitis usually do not recover if 24 hours have passed. However, in this case, the patient experienced complete blindness for three weeks but had almost fully regained their vision by the time she left Bengaluru. This is an unusual case and shows that recovery is possible even after a longer period of blindness. It is important to note that this condition is commonly seen in diabetic patients and requires urgent evaluation to rule out mucormycosis to prevent vision loss."
She received care for five consecutive days. This consisted of one day for pre-surgical preparation, the day of the surgery, and three additional days of postoperative care. Her headache and eye pain disappeared immediately after surgery. After leaving the hospital, she received follow-up care, including a nasal endoscopy to assess the nasal healing and suction clearance of blood clots from the nose.