KOCHI: A skull 3D reconstructive surgery was performed on a 30-year-old man whose 75% of the skull was removed after he suffered from mucormycosis.
The neurosurgical team at VPS Lakeshore Hospital performed a rare post-mucormycosis reconstruction of skull. The patient had earlier undergone an extensive skull bone removal due to a severe fungal infection. He also had a very prolonged treatment period after the surgery. But later after two years he was left with a huge skull defect with almost 75% of the skull being removed which resulted in a severe aesthetic deformity. He was admitted to VPS Lakeshore Hospital for a detailed reconstructive surgery.
It was in 2020 that the patient developed severe pneumonia and a fungal infection of the skull. It was evaluated and found out to be mucormycosis (black fungus). The infection had spread extensively over his skull.
The doctors conducted a very detailed 3D surgical reconstruction of the skull defect using a customized patient-specific titanium cranial implant. The surgery which lasted for more than three hours was led by neurosurgeons Dr Arun Oommen and Dr Sudish Karunakaran.
