Skull cools in tummy as man awaits surgery

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By Vincent Mabatuk

Naman Oracha

Seven months ago, a doctor opened up Naman Oracha’s stomach and placed a piece of skull inside before stitching the wound.The fragment was taken from a section of his skull, which had been broken by thugs.

The piece, nearly half of his the skull, was then put in a pouch and placed in the 26-year-old Oracha’s abdomen. When the right time comes, when he gets sufficient funds to have the necessary surgery, then it will be removed from the stomach and restored to its right place — head. For now, he has to live with a depressed side.

This procedure is meant to preserve the piece of skull. The operation was necessary after Oracha was attacked by thugs armed with metal bars who hit him on the head and left, thinking he was dead. That was on one evening in late December last year as he was heading to his Nakuru home after work.

The procedure that he underwent can be referred to as either a decompressive craniectomy or a hemicraniectomy, says Dr Isaac Chirchir, who is based in Eldoret.

This is a slightly less risky surgery since a smaller section of the skull is removed. The procedure is intended to prevent injury or death due to brain swelling.

severe trauma

“After severe trauma like what Oracha experienced, the brain can swell to such a degree that it squeezes against the cranium. This can block blood flow or warp the brain stem, two potentially fatal situations,” explains Dr Chirchir.

As a result, fragile bone marrow will wither and die unless preserved under optimal circumstances either frozen, or kept close to a warm, circulating blood supply.

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