Patna, June 13: At a time when India is battling the COVID-19 pandemic, another challenge for medical professionals is to grapple with rising cases of mucormycosis or Black Fungus across the country. In a latest incident of rare surgery that has made headlines, doctors of the Indira Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences (IGIMS) in Patna, removed a cricket ball-sized black fungus from the brain of an elderly patient. According to a report by TOI, the surgery was performed on a  60-year-old on Friday.

The report adds that it was a three-hour open surgery where the size of the mucormycosis fungus was equivalent to a cricket ball. The patient, Anil Kumar from Jamui, is doing well, the report added. The medical superintendent of the IGIMS, Dr Manish Mandal was quoted in the TOI report saying that no mucormycosis case of such an intensity in the brain had been reported from anywhere in the state before. Mucormycosis: Doctors at Sarojini Naidu Medical College in Agra Successfully Operate on Newborn Infected with Black Fungus.

The surgery was conducted by a team of doctors, a team led by Dr Brajesh Kumar, who operated on the patient with their expertise. The TOI report informs that two weeks ago, the COVID-19 survivor got epileptic attacks that led to temporary unconsciousness. The elderly man went to a local doctor but his health continued to deteriorate, following which he was admitted to the IGIMS. Black Fungus Infection: Dos and Don'ts For Mucormycosis in COVID-19 Patients, Check Full ICMR Advisory.

Giving details about the patient's reports, the official added that Kumar's CT scan and MRI test showed that his brain had been severely affected by the rare fungal infection. He informed that apart from a cricket ball-sized fungus, about 100ml of abscess (a swollen area within body tissue, containing an accumulation of pus) was also removed from his brain.

According to the surgeon Dr Brajesh, the fungus had entered the frontal lobe of the brain through the patient’s nasal passage and due to its fast spread, he got epileptic attacks.

On Friday, the Patna-based Indira Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences (IGIMS) has created a milestone after doctors conducted challenging surgeries on 103 patients diagnosed with mucormycosis in various vital organs, including the brain in the past 25 days.

Several states including Maharashtra, Karnataka, Gujarat Uttarakhand, Telangana, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Haryana, Bihar among others have reported a spike in Black Fungus cases with Gujarat, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Telangana logging the highest number of rare fungal infection.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jun 13, 2021 09:08 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).