India's first brain-mapping technology in KIMS in Hyderabad

HYDERABAD: As part of its commitment to advancing medical care through the use of modern technologies, KIMS Hospitals on Monday announced the introduction of Quicktome, a brain mapping tool from Omniscient Neuro-technology, to enhance their infrastructure.

This pioneering measure comes as a welcome change for the medical fraternity from traditional brain tumour surgery, which, despite numerous benefits, had harmful post-operation consequences.

Quicktome is a sort of patient-specific connectomics that uses cutting-edge mathematical algorithms to produce and analyse a computer-generated map of the brain's functional and anatomical connections, ushering in a new age in preoperative imaging. With the aid of its software, an accurate three-dimensional model of the brain and its blood vessels can be used to prepare for surgery. This ground-breaking and well-established method, also known as "tumour mapping," enables surgeons to select the safest trajectory to a target that requires surgical treatment inside the brain. In the past, this was mostly unknown.

Commenting on the effectiveness of Quicktome technology, Dr. Manas Panigrahi, head of Neurosurgery and senior consultant at KIMS Hospitals, said, "This technology is a major breakthrough in neurosurgery planning. Earlier, a neurosurgeon was unable to accurately identify the problem and therefore preserved those portions of the brain that served higher cognitive functions. The latest technology will help KIMS neurosurgeons achieve the best possible clinical outcomes. The prevailing imaging and mapping products only help neurosurgeons to avoid areas of the brain that control functions such as motor and speech. However, the fact is that identifying functions like imagination have been historically poor. Dr. Charles Teo, a renowned neurosurgeon from Australia, said that this new technology will help neurosurgeons learn how to practically interpret the collateral damage and prevent it during surgical resection of brain tumors.

"We applied this advanced brain mapping technology on a 39-year-old patient, one Praveen Oswal," Dr. Panigrahi stated, citing a positive outcome. On his trip to his home town of Jaipur, Praveen could not find his flight boarding pass shortly before boarding. The same thing happened when he planned another trip. He thought he was being careless and ignored. And at his construction site, he had visual symptoms, had difficulty finding his desk, and while reading, he realised he was missing words. He thought he had a stroke and consulted us. On evaluation, he was diagnosed with a left-sided brain tumour.

Dr. Panigrahi went on to say, "The brain scan showed that the tumour was expanding to the areas of memory, speech, and movements of the right hand and leg." We chose sophisticated brain mapping for the best surgical outcome because tumour surgery with traditional imaging could affect his speech, cognition, and memory. Mr. Oswal has no difficulty with complex higher functions six months after the treatment. Today, we are pleased to announce that this new technology has been launched at KIMS hospitals by Dr Michel Suguhre, chief medical officer and cofounder of Omniscient Technology; Dr Manas Panigrahi, HOD and Sr. consultant Department of Neurosurgery; and Dr Bhaskar Rao, Managing Director of KIMS Hospitals.

Dr. Bhaskar Rao, Chairman and Managing Director, KIMS Hospitals, added, "KIMS Hospitals has been pioneering early adoption of medical technology which can help doctors deliver superior clinical outcomes. The adoption of Brain Mapping technology will further cement our position as the country's best neurosciences centre.  Approximately 2,000 patients undergo brain surgery for brain tumours at KIMS Hospitals every year. Our neurosurgeons have experience with every type of brain tumour. We work with patients to develop a patient-specific treatment plan.