KOTA KINABALU: Sabah has successfully performed its first awake craniotomy, said state health director Datuk Dr Rose Nani Mudin.
She said the six-hour surgery, which was performed on Jan 12 at Queen Elizabeth 2 Hospital here, was a joint work of a team from the hospital and Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS).
Those involved were the hospital's neurosurgeons Dr M. Sofan Zenian and Dr Hezry Abu Hasan, together with UMS neurosurgical anaesthesiologist Dr Yeap Boon Tat and Sungai Buloh Hospital senior neurosurgical consultant Dr Liew Boon Seng.
Dr Rose said the patient is a 50-year-old woman who has suffered from headaches since October last year, which affected her quality of life as the symptoms had worsened. She was diagnosed at Duchess of Kent Hospital in Sandakan with multiple meningiomas on the left side of the brain.
"The decision to perform brain surgery using the 'awake craniotomy' technique is intended to treat and enable the patient to live a better quality of life.
"In awake craniotomy brain surgery, the patient is awake and remains conscious throughout the operation.
"The brain surgeon will constantly monitor the level of consciousness and brain 'alertness' throughout this surgery," she said, adding that the procedure was to assess other possible side effects.
Dr Rose said awake craniotomy had been practised in other countries since 2000, and that Malaysia started performing it in 2010 at Universiti Sains Malaysia Hospital, Kuala Lumpur Hospital, Sungai Buloh Hospital and Sultanah Aminah Hospital.