Press Release

RABINDRANATH TAGORE INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTE OF CARDIAC SCIENCES concludes World Brain Tumor Awareness Month

Kolkata, July 5, 2016: International Institute Of Cardiac Sciences (RTIICS), a leading multi-specialty hospital in Eastern recently concluded the ‘World Brain Tumor Awareness Month’ by organizing an interactive session to discuss various aspects of the brain tumor management which saw participation of more than 150 people including brain tumor survivors, their relatives and a panel of doctors from Neurology, Neuro-Surgery and Oncology department at the hospital.

During the interactive session of patients with doctors it was discussed that headaches, seizures, eye sight problems, nausea, inability to stop crying/laughing, forgetfulness and inability to sense urine/bowel pressure are some of the symptoms of brain tumor. The doctors also talked about the types of brain tumor – primary and secondary and the treatment options. As a precautionary measure, the doctors advised to restrict usage of mobile phones, shift the mobile phone from one ear to other and instead use earphones so that less radiation reaches the brain. MRI should be done once a year post brain tumor operation and high risk people (with brain tumors in the family) should go for a checkup every 5 years

Mr. R. Venkatesh, Zonal Director (East), Narayana Health said, "We at RTIICS, offers the best of technology along with experienced doctors for a comprehensive treatment. We create support groups for people who have undergone various types of surgeries and treatment at our hospital. This is one such initiative where doctors, survivors and patients get to interact with each other for knowledge sharing".

Dr. Kaushik Sil, Consultant Neurosurgeon, Rabindranath Tagore International Institute of Cardiac Sciences said, “With the advancement in technology, brain tumors which were not curable earlier are mostly curable today and that too without open skull surgeries. The advent of minimally invasive surgeries has made procedures much safer and less complicated with bare minimum hospital stay”.

Mrs. Anahita Ray (name changed) was suffering from a gradually worsening vision in both of her eyes. She went to an eye specialist and after examination she was found to have a large tumor involving the base of the brain arising from the pituitary gland. Pituitary gland is the most important gland of our body which produces hormones essential for life like thyroid and steroid hormones. A pituitary tumor stops production of this hormones and cause thyroid problem, fertility problem, muscle weakness, excess thirst and hunger and also pressure on the eye nerves that cause blindness.

At 68 years of age with such a large tumor it was a challenge to operate upon her safely. She was operated in a novel way through the nose, where ENT doctor Dr. Dev S. Roy put in the endoscope and made a passage to the brain. Dr. Kaushik Sil, Neuro Surgeon, then removed the tumor through the nasal opening using minimally invasive technique. In this way, the hazards of open brain surgery was avoided – her anesthesia time was very less (total OT time = 40 mins), her blood loss was minimum and she was up and active in 2 days and discharged from the hospital in 5 days after the surgery.

Two months after surgery, she sees much better and there are no hormonal problems. This Endoscopic surgery is a minimally invasive route to remove large brain tumors from the bottom of the skull with ease having minimal complication rate and requiring minimal hospital stay. It is safe for elderly patients even if they have other medical problems.

The traditional way of performing large brain tumor surgery is skull open. But in this case, it was done through nasal passage using minimally invasive technique. In open skull surgery, the pituitary gland would have been removed and the patient would have had to take hormone replacements throughout her life whereas in case of minimally invasive technique, doctors have been able to preserve the pituitary gland, as a result of which the patient does not require any hormone replacement medicine.

Other doctors present at the knowledge session were Dr. Amlan Mondal, Neurologist and Dr. Suman Mallik, Radiation Oncology, Dr. Partha Pratim Bishnu, Neuro Surgeon, Dr. Haseeb Hassan, Neurologist and Dr. Animesh Kar, Neurologist.

About Narayana Health:

With all super-speciality tertiary care facilities that the medical world offers, Narayana Health is now a one-stop healthcare destination for all. From the first facility established in Bengaluru with approximately 225 operational beds in 2000, our Company has grown to 54 facilities (which includes 53 facilities in India and 1 facility in the Cayman Islands operated by our Company's associate company, Health City Cayman Islands Ltd.) with 5300 operational beds with a potential to reach over 6600 beds. Our Company has a network of 23 hospitals (multispeciality and superspeciality healthcare facilities which provide tertiary care services), 7 heart centres (superspeciality units which are set up in a third party hospital) and 23 primary care facilities (including clinics and information centres), across a total of 18 cities in India. (For details, visit www.narayanahealth.org)

About Narayana Health in Eastern India:

Our presence in eastern India is centred on RTIICS, a multispecialty hospital located in with a strong presence in cardiology and cardiac surgery, as well as neurology and neurosurgery, and nephrology and urology. We operate 10 hospitals, including hospitals in the greater Kolkata area encompassing , and the Eastern Metropolitan Bypass, a multispecialty hospital in Jamshedpur, Jharkhand, a superspecialty hospital in Guwahati, Assam and a hospital each in and , West and a heart centre in Durgapur, , totalling to 1,993 operational beds, with a capacity of 2,270 beds.

About Rabindranath Tagore Institute of Cardiac Sciences:

Rabindranath Tagore International Institute of Cardiac Sciences (RTIICS) Kolkata is a 613 bed NABH accredited multi- specialty hospital located on Eastern Metropolitan Bypass at Mukundapur. We believe RTIICS is one of the leading cardiac care hospitals in eastern India, operating as a multispecialty hospital with cardiac sciences, renal sciences (including kidney transplants), neurosciences, and gastroenterology. The facility's primary catchment areas are Kolkata city and peripheral districts in the state of West Bengal.