Schizophrenia surgery done at Delhi hospital

NEW DELHI:  Taking a big leap in the field of “psychosurgery” – a subspecialty of Neurosurgery, India’s First Surgery for Schizophrenia was performed at Marengo Asia Hospital in Gurugram through Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS) technology.

A 28-year-old African patient with Treatment-Resistant Schizophrenia underwent the procedure who was suffering from the ailment since the age of 13. Globally, only 13 such surgeries have been performed and mark a remarkable advancement in the psychiatric surgery psychosurgery field.

The patient underwent the operation on June 14, and has since shown “remarkable” and “promising outcomes with significant symptom reduction and overall improvement in his condition,” the doctors said.
Schizophrenia, a complex psychiatric disorder, affects millions of people worldwide, and finding effective treatment has been a challenging endeavour.  The patient was diagnosed with schizophrenia at the age of 15 years.

Despite undergoing various medication regimens, the patient had been experiencing persistent hallucinations and delusions among other symptoms of schizophrenia. He isolated himself in his room for eight years, severely impacting his quality of life and his academic growth since he dropped out of school.
The patient’s symptoms of schizophrenia progressively worsened over the years, manifesting in complete social withdrawal. He became increasingly resistant to the prescribed medicines when he chose to come to India for an enhanced treatment called neuromodulation.

The patient was considered for DBS surgery and in accordance with the Mental Health Act 2017, India, the hospital took approval from the government mental health review board to perform the psychosurgery.
“The entire procedure took 8-10 hours and the patient was monitored in the ICU overnight. On day 2 postoperatively, he was able to walk and also felt 50-60 cent improvement in his symptoms.

On day 10, he felt an 80 per cent reduction in his hallucinations, delusions and anxiety” said Dr Himanshu Champaneri, Senior Consultant Neurosurgeon, who led the surgery. The surgeon said that the technology has brilliant especially now that our understanding of the brain networks has increased so much.

“DBS gives us an option to target any particular area of the brain. We can modulate the circuits effectively to a multiple extent and it has a potential and scope for multiple other disorders in which the circuits can be identified and the results can be seen,” Champaneri said.

“It will also be helpful for many other psychotic disorders like anxiety and drug addiction and some disorders like attention deficit hyperactive disorders. So essentially, the field is quite large and with this technology, the future appears promising,” he added.