A girl with a tapeworm in her brain was rescued in Novosibirsk
The girl was admitted to the Novosibirsk Regional Hospital with signs of paralysis of her left arm and leg. Her parents told the doctors that their daughter had often complained of severe headaches. In the process of examination the child was found to have lung neoplasms and a huge cyst in the brain. Its diameter exceeded 10 centimeters.
"Almost the entire volume of the right hemisphere was occupied by the cyst, it squeezed the brain so hard that there were no more than two millimeters left between the brain coat and the skull," - said in the Novosibirsk regional hospital.
It turned out that the little girl suffers from a rare form of echinococcosis. Usually echinococcus settles in the liver and lungs. In this case, a parasitic cyst with a tapeworm was found right in the brain. According to doctors, the girl could have been infected during a trip to relatives in Central Asia. Brain tumors are often diagnosed in late stages.
"Perhaps the parasite settled in the child's body a long time ago, and the cyst grew without making itself known," suggests Shalinder Aul, a neurosurgeon at the GNOKB, candidate of medical sciences. - At the same time, even after partial paralysis the girl remained in clear consciousness and talked. Compensatory capabilities of her organism were so high that allowed to avoid a dramatic ending.
The consilium came to the conclusion that surgery was necessary. However, none of the Novosibirsk neurosurgeons had such experience before. It was the first time they had to operate on a child with such a disease. There was no time to transport the girl to the capital's clinic - her condition could worsen at any moment.
The main difficulty of the surgical intervention was that the parasitic cyst had to be removed from the brain entirely, without violating its integrity. Even accidental touching it with a sharp instrument could lead to unfortunate consequences.
"The contents of a parasitic cyst are very toxic," explained Shalinder Aul. - If it spills out of the shell into the body, anaphylactic shock can develop."
The case was unique. Neurosurgeons, pediatric surgeons, anesthesiologists, and doctors of other specialties gathered in the operating room. All of them were ready to help their colleagues at any moment. The operation lasted several hours. Extremely carefully, using the technique of water dissection, neurosurgeons released the cyst from the skull.
Doctors say that the little patient heroically endured the most difficult surgical intervention. A week after the operation, the girl began to walk independently - the paralysis has passed. She will have to further fight with the disease - because two more foci of infection were found in the chest cavity. If antibiotic therapy does not help, the child will need another operation - on the lungs.