Mumbai doctors claim success in 'first-of-its-kind' surgery

Doctors at Jaslok hospital in Mumbai on Thursday stated that they have performed the world's first surgery on a patient with SCA-12. Patients with the genetic disorder that is seen in members of the Agarwal community in India suffer from uncontrolled tremors in head, neck and hands apart from gait imbalance.

"The gene is also seen in a small number of Japanese, Chinese and Americans. It is not a common condition," said Dr Pettarusp Wadia, consultant neurologist at the hospital. The patient in question is a 57-year-old housewife whose tremors started in 2013 and a decade on had worsened to the extent that she couldn't feed herself. SCA-12 eventually leads to significant loss of limb co-ordination, eye movement co-ordination and slurred speech.

In this case the motive was to control tremors. There is not much literature available online or offline about the condition. "We conducted the surgery on November 18 and her tremors have reduced by 60 per cent," said Dr Paresh Doshi, Director of Neuro Surgery at Jaslok hospital, Mumbai.