Jordanian medical team performs advanced neurosurgery procedure

AMMAN — A Jordanian medical team at Irbid’s King Abdullah I University Hospital successfully performed their first endoscopic decompression of the fifth cranial nerve.

The recent operation on a female patient with trigeminal neuralgia (compression of the fifth nerve in the brain) was carried out late last month by Bashar Abu Zayed, head of the medical team, and another resident neurosurgeon, in addition to nursing and anaesthesia staff.

Neuronavigation-guided endoscopic technologies allowed the procedure to be performed through a two-centimetre-long wound and reduced the need for painkillers, Abu Zayed told The Jordan Times in a recent phone interview.

He said the endoscopic method allows patients to return to their normal lives within only two days.

“The duration of both the traditional operation and the endoscopy is around an hour to an hour-and-a-half, but there is a great difference in the post-surgery recovery,” the surgeon added.

Fully endoscopic decompression of the fifth cranial nerve has spread in the past few years in hospitals in the US and elsewhere.

Trigeminal neuralgia usually occurs due to the pressure arteries place on brain nerves, Abu Zayed explained, adding that the surgery seeks to separate them to ease the pressure off the nerve.

The condition can result in facial pain, since the fifth cranial nerve is responsible for providing sensation to different parts of the face including the eyes, the cheeks and the jaw.

“Prior to the endoscopy, the patient tried all non-surgical options, including medications and facial fillers, to get rid of fifth cranial nerve pain, but none were effective,” the 37-year-old physician said.

Abu Zayed expects an increase in the use of endoscopy for the same purpose now that the procedure has been performed “successfully” — an accomplishment that will add to the prestige of Jordan’s medical sector, which is recognised for its quality regionally and internationally.