According to the local news channel, TV Asahi’s report, a 50-year-old woman in Japan was diagnosed with a benign brain tumor. She had been experiencing dizziness and unsteadiness and was diagnosed with a benign tumor in her brain. Although she was able to go about her life as per normal, after consulting doctors, she decided to undergo the surgery to remove the tumor, known as craniotomy.
The operation was a 10 hour long procedure, and was conducted by a team of three experienced surgeons. The lead surgeon had around 20 years of experience with around 100 surgeries under his name.
During the surgery, tests were performed twice to determine whether the removed tissue was tumorous. The first test was negative, but the lead surgeon continued with the surgery assuming only the edge of the tissue had been taken, the hospital told Sankei Newspaper. When the second test also came negative, the surgeon concluded that the tumour was successfully removed.
The patient, however, did not regain consciousness or resume breathing on her own after the surgery. It was later discovered through an MRI scan that the tumorous tissue was intact and a healthy section of her brain, including the brainstem had been excised. The brainstem contains the respiratory centre, responsible for breathing and movement.
In a recent update, the hospital informed that the patient regained her consciousness and is able to respond to questions by blinking.
The hospital’s chief of neurosurgery, Yoshiteru Ara, stated, “I perform surgeries myself, and that kind of thing happens sometimes. Even if we report it twice, we are told it’s not a tumour. It’s something we experience often.”
On being asked if the error was due to overconfidence stemming from experience, Ara replied: “I think so.”
He informed the public that the surgeon had since reviewed the video of the operation and post-operative magnetic resonance imaging scan, and was “apologetic for the misdiagnosis”.
Kyoto University Hospital performs an average of 156 brain tumour surgeries annually.
At a press conference, hospital director Akifumi Takaori apologised, saying they would provide the woman with the best possible treatment. She added that the hospital is investigating this incident to prevent recurrences.
“We offer our deepest apologies,” hospital director Akifumi Takaori said. “We will do our best to provide the best possible treatment, and we will investigate the cause and formulate effective measures to prevent recurrence.”
Following this bizarre incident, the hospital implemented a system where more than one person has to verify test results during a brain tumor removal surgery.
No, once brain tissue is removed, it cannot be restored or regrown. The brain cells are post-mitotic, meaning they cannot divide and replace themselves once mature.
However, the brain can sometimes "rewire" around damage, where other areas partially compensate for lost function, especially with rehabilitation. This is known as Neuroplasticity.
Tumours that are small, slow-growing or non-growing, if they are not pressing on other structures of the body, not causing any symptoms, need not be removed. In elderly patients, where tumor removal surgery might pose a risk to their health, it is often avoided to conduct tumor removal surgeries.
If the tumor is, however, located in a critical spot, pressing on important internal structures and causing symptoms like seizures, dizziness etc then they need to be removed. Additionally, in cases of diagnostic uncertainty, it becomes necessary to perform a surgery to rule out malignancy.
(Rh/MF/MSM)