Endoscopic Surgery Helps Preserve Vision After Complex Orbital Injury: Dr. Harnarayan Singh
Dr. Harnarayan Singh, Director and HOD of Neurosurgery at Shalby International Hospital, led the five-hour surgery that preserved an Iraqi teenager’s remaining vision.
New Delhi [India], September 28: An explosion a year ago left behind an injury to the right eye of an 18-year-old boy from Iraq. His eye had suffered severe damage and he had lost nearly 70% of his vision in that eye. This accident left behind a small piece of metal deep inside the right eye socket. This one-centimetre-long metal fragment was lodged very close to the optic nerve. This location made removing the metal piece extremely challenging. Several hospitals even refused to take his case. In this situation, a multidisciplinary team of doctors from Shalby International Hospital decided to take this challenge. The team successfully removed the metal fragment and saved his vision.
Recalling this case, Dr Harnarayan Singh, Director and HOD, Neurosurgery, said, “In this case, the biggest challenge was not simply removing the foreign body. It was removing it without causing further damage to an eye that had already suffered a major injury.” Dr Harnarayan Singh led the neurosurgery and skull base surgery team. Actually, the boy had already undergone several procedures previously, but the problem was not completely resolved. Pain was consistent, particularly when moving the affected eye.
The metal piece was positioned on the inner side of the optic nerve. One possible way to treat was a craniotomy. In this process, a portion of the skull is removed, and the surgeon enters the orbit from above. Surgeons had to operate through the skull, with the possibility of a visible scar and a greater risk of injury to the optic nerve.
