Bangalore :

As young Zaman was wheeled into the operation theatre, her head shaved, her mother Ninaya Khalil bent down to scoop up long locks of hair spread on the floor. Zaman had gone in for a complex surgery, and Ninaya wanted the hair for keepsake. Just in case. For Zaman had a ‘time bomb’ ticking inside her little head.

“I wanted to keep her hair, I didn’t know if she would come out alive,” says Ninaya, happy and relieved a week after her daughter’s surgery on November 1.

Zaman Adlaab, 9, from Iraq, was flown down to Bangalore, the left side of her body paralyzed. Zaman needed a surgery to remove a knot of arteries which was rupturing, leading to bleeding in her brain.

It began when Zaman was just six. She began complaining of severe bodyache that was followed by repeated convulsions. A few days later, she fell unconscious, white liquid oozing out of her mouth. Terrified, Ninaya took her daughter to a hospital in Iraq for an MRI, for a clear image of the brain.

“Doctors detected bleeding in Zaman’s brain. A surgery was performed and Zaman spent 15 days in the ICU. After the surgery, Zaman appeared healthy, apart from partial paralysis in the left side of her body,” recalls Ninaya.

The nightmare returned after two-and-a-half years. The bodyache and convulsions recurred, and she fell lifeless again. “A surgery was needed to get rid of the root cause. Although there was some risk involved, we had no other option. The doctors said a third fit could prove fatal,” says Adlaab Mehsin, Zaman’s father.

They came down for the surgery at Fortis Hospitals. “Bleeding in Zaman’s brain was due to Arteriovenous Malformation (AVM), a knot or ball-like structure formed by arteries which are “not fully developed”. Unless this knot was removed, chances of AVM rupturing the third time were high. Moreover, the AVM was sitting on the right side of the basal ganglia, a part of the brain that controls motor movement of the opposite side of the body. This made the surgery even more complex,” said Dr S Satish, consultant neurosurgeon, Fortis Hospitals.

The surgery, that went on for over nine hours, has given the girl a new life. “I feel no pain. I want to go home and start cycling with my brothers,” says a lively Zaman, waiting for the metal plates holding her scalp together, to be removed.

What is AVM?

* Arteriovenous Malformation is a condition that arises when immature blood vessels (arteries) in the brain form a ball-like structure. Often defined as a ‘time bomb’ by experts, AVM can rupture anytime without any symptoms, due to blood flow pressure and causes bleeding inside the brain.

* Brain AVMs occur in less than 1% of the population

* Cause unknown, are usually congenital but not hereditary

source: http://www.articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Bangalore> Time Bomb / by Garima Prasher, TNN / November 11th, 2013