A 16-year-old boy from Bihar had the gift of sight restored to him in what doctors described as a special and rare achievement after a tumour inside his brain that was causing him to lose his vision was removed at a city hospital.
Ashish Ranjhan first complained of blurred vision in his right eye in December last year. Despite repeated consultations with the ophthalmologist, the vision in his right eye continued to dim until it was lost completely.
As his condition continued to deteriorate, an MRI revealed the presence of a tumour, which needed to be surgically removed.
Gradually, the boy completely lost his vision in both the eyes and there was no perception of light and no pupil action for more than two-and-a-half-months in the right eye and about a week in his left eye, doctors said.
The boy was then brought here for treatment and admitted at a private hospital on February 13 where a team of doctors concluded that there was an urgent need to surgically remove the tumour.
“The tumour was growing and progressively affecting the optic nerve. Further delay in removing it could have been extremely dangerous as tumours in the brain can affect a patient in unforeseen ways.
“Though we decided to remove the tumour, we were not sure of the possibility of saving his vision since not many cases in medical history have shown us a reversal of damaged vision in such cases,” said Dr VS Mehta, Director, Neurosciences at Paras Hospitals, Gurgaon.
His parents were counselled about the boy’s condition and the operation was conducted immediately thereafter.
Following a surgery that lasted four hours, the tumour was successfully removed and it was also found that the procedure had led to the fortunate restoration of the boy’s vision.
Doctors said that the reversal and restoration of vision in both his eyes was a “special and rare achievement in such cases”.