After the procedure, Abhinay Kumar is thrilled to be able to resume a normal life.
A surgery where millimeters have an impact on the outcome, a new technique employed by a team of doctors at a hospital in Hyderabad has sparked hope of revolutionising the treatment of brain ailments linked to Parkinson's disease and movement disorders.
Doctors at Hyderabad's Krishna Institute of Medical Sciences said, for the first time in the world, they successfully used an Artificial Intelligence or AI-powered "Autoguide" robot for Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS).
A team of neurosurgeons led by Dr Manas Panigrahi, who heads the neurosurgery department at KIMS Hospitals (Secunderabad) has developed a program to provide the latest versions of treatment using tomorrow's technology, the hospital claimed.
Six years ago, 32-year-old Hyderabad resident Abhinay Kumar had been diagnosed with a rare disorder with symptoms of tightness of hands and legs and having difficulty in walking, like Parkinson's disease.
Doctors performed the surgery earlier this month.
"When Abhinay was 26, he felt tremors in right hand, which increased with age and he struggled to even hold a teacup. With the disease progression, he was not even able to walk and that forced him to give up his job. This condition required a surgical intervention to rectify the anomaly in the brain and had to be done with absolute precision,'' explained Dr Panigrahi.
On March 3, Abhinay was successfully treated using advanced treatment protocols. "Accuracy is key while performing deep brain stimulation, and the highly skilled team of neurosurgeons and neurologists who specialize in Parkinson's disease and movement disorders, aided by an extremely accurate robotic tool, were able to reach the exact location inside the brain and treat the problem," Dr Panigrahi said.
Along with Dr Manas Panigrahi were Dr Dhanunjay, Consultant Neurosurgeon, and Dr Praveen Kumar Yada, Consultant Neurologist, as also a team of highly skilled nursing staff at the hospital.
The Parkinson's Centre at the KIMS Hospitals is one of the very few places in Asia where such complex procedures could be carried out. The Artificial Intelligence-integrated robotic system used at KIMS helps in various brain surgeries including epilepsy surgery, brain tumour biopsy, deep brain stimulation for Parkinson's disease, movement disorders and some psychiatric disorders.
Doctors said the surgery on Abhinay Kumar was successful.
The "Stealth Autoguide" robot helps calculate the exact position and trajectory needed to reach the targeted area of the brain. The neurosurgeon places a very thin wire with small electrodes on its tip that will deliver electrical stimulation to a small volume of tissue.
A standard accuracy registration for deep brain stimulation usually falls between 0.8 and 1.2 millimetres. By using the Stealth Autoguide robot, the Parkinson's group at KIMS Hospitals has registered an accuracy within 0.2 mm.
If the surgery is done manually, the neurosurgeon needs to calculate the coordinates and fix the leads with their own hands into the brain. With Artificial intelligence, the Autoguide robot picks the coordinates based on the instructions from the surgeons, with utmost precision and accuracy.
After the procedure, Abhinay Kumar is thrilled to be able to resume a normal life. "I had experienced tremors in 2016. I was doing a private job which I had to quit because of my health condition. Looking forward to rejoining my job soon," he said.