Children's Brain Surgery - Do's & Don'ts!

Prior to the surgery, the child is very carefully prepared for the procedure. This involves putting the child to sleep by using a general anaesthetic which makes the child unconscious and ready to be operated upon. On an average, this entire process takes up to two hours to be completed.

There are a number of reasons why brain surgery is performed on a child with a tumour in the brain. Apart from removing as much of the tumour as can be safely done, it is sometimes done to extract a small portion of the tumour in order to conduct a biopsy. Occasionally, brain surgery may be performed on a child to put chemotherapy drugs directly into the brain or even to reduce the associated symptoms of the condition, such as headaches caused by the accumulation of cerebrospinal fluid.

After brain surgery, the child s head and face will swell up and become painful. There will probably also be swelling in one or both eyes which will be difficult for the child to open and control. Other after effects of brain surgery includes headaches, dizziness, problems pertaining to speech and coordination, sore throat etc.

Although done very rarely, a child might be allowed to wake up in the middle of the surgery. This is done to locate and check the part of the brain that controls language and movement. However, this is done only if the child is at least 12 years old. It is too dangerous to be performed on pre-adolescent children.