A team of doctors on KwaZulu-Natal’s South Coast has achieved a major medical milestone for the region – removing a brain tumour without a single external incision, reports eNCA.
The complex operation, known as Endoscopic Endonasal Transsphenoidal Pituitary Tumour Resection, was performed by surgeons at Shelly Beach Hospital, just outside Port Shepstone.
Neurosurgeon Yandisa Nxakama said the achievement signalled a new era of world class healthcare for the region.
The doctors used a camera system inserted through the nose into the base of the brain where the tumour was located.
“The tumour grows from the pituitary gland,” Nxakama said, “and if left untreated, its continued growth could interfere with normal body functions – while fewer hormones are produced in the pituitary gland because of the compression.”
He added that although the procedure is not new, it was an important milestone for the development of the advanced healthcare services in the hospital.
While Shelly Beach Hospital doesn’t have the same tumour burden as state hospitals, Nxakama said it was a concern that public service patients are unable to access the treatment.
“In KZN, for many years it was just the Nkosi Albert Luthuli Hospital doing this procedure. It’s only recently that they have opened another public sector at Grey’s Hospital in Pietermaritzburg, where neurosurgery patients can be treated.”
eNCA article – KZN doctors perform world-class treatment (Open access)