Gulf Today, Aug 3, 2022 | Muharram 5, 1444
Surgeons save child in Saudi Arabia from a rare fatal brain infection
A two-year-old toddler from Saudi Arabia has had a life-saving operation to remove a ruptured cyst – a rare congenital anomaly – that could have led to a fatal brain infection.
Surgeons at the Maternity & Children Hospital of Makkah led a four-hour operation to save the life of the child who had developed recurrent brain infections.
Experts at the hospital discovered the toddler had a congenital cyst.
In a statement released by the hospital, the medical team explained that the mother noticed the child “holding his head and crying continuously”.
The condition developed into pus coming out of the back of the two-year-old boy’s head, and losing consciousness and movement.
When he was transferred to the hospital, an MRI was performed, which revealed an increase in the size of the congenital cyst with pus gathering in the cerebellum, pressuring the neighboring nerve tissue.
The condition could have been fatal if not treated.
The successful surgery that was performed using a microscope took four hours, after which the child was discharged.
Arachnoid cysts are the most common type of brain cyst. They are congenital (present at birth) lesions that occur as a result of the splitting of the arachnoid membrane. The cysts are fluid-filled sacs, not tumors, appearing in one of the three layers of tissue covering the central nervous system.
Surgical treatment of this condition involves draining the cyst by drilling a small hole or by opening the skull and making small openings in the cyst to open the natural fluid pathways in the brain.