NIMS Hyderabad cuts deep brain stimulation surgery time from 6 to 1 hour with novel technique
HYDERABAD: The Department of Neurosurgery at Nizam’s Institute of Medical Sciences (NIMS) has adopted an advanced technique that significantly reduces the duration of Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS) surgery. Conventional DBS procedures take five to six hours, but the new approach shortens it to one to two hours in selected patients, the institute said.
Dr Y. Vamsi Krishna, head of the Department of Neurosurgery, led the implementation. The technique combines advanced imaging, precise surgical planning, and refined operative methods, allowing the surgery to be performed under general anaesthesia instead of the traditional awake craniotomy approach.
DBS is used to treat movement disorders such as Parkinson’s disease, essential tremor, and dystonia. In the conventional method, patients must remain awake for several hours while electrodes are implanted in specific brain areas. The new technique reduces patient discomfort and shortens hospital stay.
The neurosurgery team received specialised training at the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery, University College London, before adopting the technique. Over the past two and a half years, NIMS has performed more than 200 DBS surgeries.
In a related development, NIMS has also introduced MRI-guided radiofrequency ablation for patients with tremors that do not respond to medication. This procedure uses advanced MRI sequences to accurately target the dentato-rubro-thalamic (DRT) pathway without implanting any permanent device.
The ablation treatment, which costs around ₹5 lakh in private hospitals, is provided free of cost to eligible underprivileged patients through the Chief Minister’s Relief Fund, the institute stated.
