IPOH: Raja Permaisuri Bainun Hospital made history by successfully performing its first-ever Extracranial-intracranial (EC-IC) arterial bypass surgery.
Hospital director Dr Saiful Azlan Sharif said the surgery performed on a 56-year-old patient with Moyamoya disease was also a first in Perak.
"The patient had shown symptoms of headache and bodily paralysis since November 2023.
"The disease was caused by the progressive narrowing of the internal carotid artery, which is the main bloodstream to the brain," he said in a statement on Thursday (July 25).
"The surgery was aimed at improving brain perfusion and reducing the risk of stroke in the future," he added.
Moyamoya disease is a rare, progressive cerebrovascular disorder caused by blocked arteries at the base of the brain in an area called the basal ganglia.
Dr Saiful Azlan said the surgery was carried out by the hospital's neurosurgery specialists, Dr Mohamed Azhari Omar and Dr Mohd Syahiran Mohd Sidek, together with Prof Datuk Dr Jafri Malin Abdullah and Dr Muhammad Ihfaz Ismail from Universiti Sains Malaysia's Neuroscience Department.
He added that the hospital's anaesthesia department and other support staff were also involved in the surgery.
