Help with the treatment of children with brain pathologies

The Centre for Paediatric Neurosurgery and Epilepsy Surgery, the largest in the western regions of Ukraine, which operates on the basis of the St. Nicholas Children's Hospital of the First Medical Association of Lviv, needs a NEUROENDOSCOPE!

This equipment will help to better treat children with tumours, hydrocephalus and other severe brain pathologies.

One of the patients whose surgical treatment requires a neuroendoscope is 3-year-old Danylko from Poltava region. A year ago, the boy suddenly lost his appetite and his gait changed. It turned out to be cancer. The brain tumour had formed in a dangerous and inaccessible area - above the optic nerves. The surgeons were able to remove the tumour only partially because of the risk of damaging the child's eyesight. And, as is often the case with this location of the tumour, the child developed hydrocephalus - also called dropsy of the brain. This is a disease in which excessive fluid accumulates in the brain and the brain is compressed, and the size of the skull often increases significantly in young children. If left untreated, there is a risk of compression of the brain stem, which can lead to damage to the vital parts of the brain that are responsible for breathing and blood circulation.

Danylo's family came to St. Nicholas Hospital of the First Medical Association of Lviv with hydrocephalus. Our neurosurgeons treated the baby for two months and performed about 10 surgeries during this time. All interventions were aimed at improving the child's condition. First of all, it was about removing unnecessary shunts to drain the cerebrospinal fluid, of which this patient had 5. Also, Danylo underwent a biopsy of the tumour, which remained under-removed in the area outside the optic nerves and began to grow. Now the boy is waiting for cancer treatment, in particular, chemotherapy.

15% of all interventions at our Centre for Neurosurgery and Epilepsy Surgery are related to hydrocephalus treatment. To improve the quality of medical care for children like Danylo from Poltava region, our hospital needs special high-precision and low-trauma equipment. We are talking about a paediatric neuroendoscope, which neurosurgeons also call a "pediscope".

A neuroendoscope is a modern device that allows performing brain surgery through an access hole of just 3-4 mm. At present, our neurosurgeons have to operate with endoscopes with a much larger diameter. Several of these old devices have already reached the end of their useful life and can no longer be used.

The new state-of-the-art neuroendoscope will allow our neurosurgeons to take better care of young patients. Doctors will be able to reach deeper parts of the brain faster, safer and with greater precision, which means they will be able to remove tumours in the most dangerous areas, remove excess fluid more efficiently or perform biopsies in difficult areas of the brain more accurately.

That is why we are launching a life-saving fundraiser for a neuroendoscope with the dobro.ua charity platform. Its cost is just over UAH 1.2 million.

Join the initiative and help to save children with brain diseases.

*St. Nicholas Children's Hospital operates on the basis of the First Medical Association of Lviv