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Skull Base & Spine Surgery in Bhubaneswar

Skull Base & Spine Surgery

Skull Base & Spine Surgery in Bhubaneswar

Skull-base surgery involves the delicate removal of tumours, lesions, or abnormalities located at the base of the skull, where critical structures such as major blood vessels and nerves are located. Our neurosurgeons are highly skilled in performing minimally invasive and complex skull base surgeries, including endoscopic approaches, to access and treat conditions such as pituitary tumours, acoustic neuromas, meningiomas, and skull base fractures.

Spine Surgery

Spine surgery encompasses a wide range of procedures aimed at addressing conditions affecting the spinal column and spinal cord. Our neurosurgical team specialises in the diagnosis and treatment of spinal disorders, including degenerative disc disease, spinal stenosis, herniated discs, spinal tumours, and spinal deformities such as scoliosis. We offer both traditional open surgery and minimally invasive techniques to address spinal conditions, with a focus on preserving spinal stability and optimising neurological function.

FAQ's

The skull base (or cranial base) is a section of the skull (cranium) that supports the brain and separates it from the rest of the head. Blood vessels to the brain and nerves that exit the brain (cranial nerves) pass via holes in the skull base. The nasal passageways, sinus canals, facial bones, and chewing muscles are all located below the skull base.

Skull base and spine surgery address a range of conditions including tumours (benign and malignant), vascular malformations, spinal cord injuries, degenerative spine disorders (like herniated discs), and complex fractures of the spine.

Spine surgery may be recommended for conditions such as severe back or neck pain that doesn't respond to conservative treatments, spinal deformities (like scoliosis), spinal cord compression due to herniated discs or bone spurs, and spinal fractures from trauma.

After your skull base surgery, you are advised not to drive for the next 24 hours after having anaesthesia. Following this, you will experience: 

  • Nasal congestion
  • Fullness
  • Facial pain
  • Headache
  • Disrupted sleep

All these symptoms will improve after your first visit to the hospital, which is typically a week after your surgery.

Skull-base surgery, whether performed by craniotomy or transsphenoidal procedures, begins with general anaesthesia to ensure that the patient is painless during the procedure.

We can't make the entire process painless, but new techniques and breakthroughs in spine surgery are allowing us to relieve more pain than before. The discomfort is typically worse in the first few days and gradually subsides. Within a week or 2 weeks, patients feel much better, and pain is almost negligible.

Patients overestimate the chance of chronic injury from surgery. In fact, the chances of a patient becoming completely paralysed or unable to walk as a result of the procedure are quite minimal. Paralysis occurs in less than 0.5 per cent of the tens of thousands of surgeries performed nationwide, and even then, it is frequently a transitory condition.

Patients can walk soon after surgery, but this does not guarantee that they will do so. Patients will be sleepy from the anaesthesia and will require time to recover. We do prefer youngsters to walk and move around quickly. It will take you 4 to 6 weeks to achieve your expected level of mobility and function (depending on the severity of your disease and symptoms before surgery).

Patients may have to stay in the hospital for a few days as per their medical conditions. After being admitted to the hospital, you can also spend a few days at a rehabilitation facility. If the patients have a drain or are in more discomfort, we may have them stay in the hospital for one or two nights.

In general, surgeons may instruct patients not to lift, bend, or twist immediately following surgery. Limitations may continue for up to three months following procedures that stabilise the spine and entail the insertion of certain apparatus.

Previously, the preferred procedure was to approach the skull base from above (the transcranial approach) and from below (the transracial approach), sometimes at the same time.

The transcranial technique involves making a scalp incision and then performing a craniotomy (removing a portion of the skull). The brain is then elevated to reach the skull base.

The transracial approach allows access to the sinus cavities and base of the skull from below by making incisions on the face or within the mouth. The doctors next remove tumours from both above and below the skull base. Surgery causes a defect in the skull base and dura (the thick lining that covers the brain) that must be corrected to prevent spinal fluid leaks and infection.

Following skull base surgery, complications may include:

  • Intracranial haemorrhage
  • Blindness
  • Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) leak
  • Osteonecrosis
  • Cerebral abscess
  • Meningitis
  • Cranial nerve neuropathies
  • Cosmetic deformity

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