Neurosurgeon saves two boys with a parallel brain operation

By Dr. Ananya Mandal, MDMar 21 2012

A neurosurgeon saved the lives of two boys by performing simultaneous brain surgery on them both after they were rushed to hospital with identical injuries. 

The kids arrived by ambulance at the same time with bleeding on the brain. Two operating theatres were set up, a surgical team was organized and Consultant Pediatric Neurosurgeon Saurabh Sinha immediately operated on the boys aged eight and 12. Mr. Sinha is one of the few surgeons in the UK performing neurosurgery through the nose rather than by cutting through the skull and his skill saved the life of both schoolboys.

Owen Wilkinson, now nine, was taken to hospital when he began feeling sick after a minor fall in the playground at his primary school in October 2011, where his mother Caroline is deputy head teacher. Medical staff at Barnsley General Hospital realised his injuries were more serious and he was immediately transferred to Sheffield Children's Hospital. While Caroline was waiting at the Children's Hospital with husband, Mark, they met another couple, whose 12-year-old son had also been rushed into surgery with exactly the same condition. Both the boys were saved.

Owen's family is determined to thank the hospital and have so far raised almost £4,000 to help fund specialist medical equipment for the hospitals theatres. The money will go towards new endoscopic instruments which will enable surgeons to perform neurosurgery through the nose rather than by cutting through the skull.

David Vernon-Edwards, director of The Children's Hospital Charity, said, “Our amazing staff like Mr. Sinha are changing lives like Owen's every day. Our theatres staff perform 11,000 operations every year. We greatly value the support of families like Owen's to ensure we can provide our surgeons with groundbreaking equipment to enable them to do the best job they can.”