Large PEAR in the brain!
Giant brain tumour presenting with psychological depression and suicidal ideation!!
A woman presented to our Brain tumour centre, with a very large, rather massive brain tumour, occupying nearly one half of the brain diameter in the section. This is indicated by a yellow arrow in the accompanying picture.
These brain tumours are most challenging due to their high blood supply and the structures involved by them.
This patient was being treated by psychiatry department outside Pune for a long time as she presented with behavioural abnormalities. A psychiatrist in Pune suspected something more and ordered a brain MRI. Much to this patient’s relief, an organic cause was discovered. We need to remember that such brain tumours, at times can present with psychiatric symptoms. One needs to have a high index of suspicion. Patients should be investigated early to be diagnosed in time.
You can see pre-operative planning (before surgery begins) by drawing the tumour on the skin surface (red lines). Such surgeries need careful planning and perfect resection with modern neurosurgical techniques.
We resected this giant tumour with 5 hours of tedious surgery preserving all the important structures.
This is the photo of the patient on the third post-operative day, without any neurological deficits, at our brain tumour surgery centre.
And the excised tumour in another photo.
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