In the news release, The changing landscape of neurological conditions across all ages at Zydus Hospital, Vadodara, issued 23-Oct-2026 by Zydus Hospitals and Healthcare Research Private Limited over PR Newswire, we are advised by the company that changes have been made in the first paragraph. The complete, corrected release follows:
The changing landscape of neurological conditions across all ages at Zydus Hospital, Vadodara
AHMEDABAD, India, Oct. 23, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — More than three billion people, over 40 per cent of the world’s population, are affected by neurological conditions, according to the World Health Organization. Neurological disorders affect the central nervous system or the peripheral nervous system and can impair the brain, spinal cord, peripheral nerves, or neuromuscular function. In India, stroke was the largest single contributor to the neurological burden followed by headache disorders, vertigo, epilepsy, cerebral palsy, Alzheimer’s disease, encephalitis, and movement disorders like Parkinson’s and dystonia. These conditions arise in different ways and can affect people across age groups. Some of the patients treated at Zydus Hospital, Vadodara, aged 6 to 78 and living with very different conditions, offer a glimpse of how these disorders can present and how they are treated.
Dystonia and the importance of DBS programming
Dr. Suvorit Bhowmick, Neurologist and movement disorder specialist in Vadodara, recalls a recent case where an 8-year-old boy with no other medical condition was diagnosed with genetic dystonia. The child’s stiffness and abnormal posture limited his movements, and he needed help with his daily activities. Eventually, he stopped going to school and playing with other children. This was a very difficult phase for the family. Despite undergoing deep brain stimulation (DBS) surgery in Mumbai, his symptoms kept worsening, so the family decided to consult Dr. Bhowmick at Zydus Hospitals, Vadodara.
Dystonia is a movement disorder arising from faulty signalling in the area of the brain that controls body movements, and its symptoms can begin at any age. It makes muscles contract involuntarily, twisting the body into abnormal postures or making it shake. In children, it is likely due to mutations in certain genes.
Some genetic forms, such as dopa-responsive dystonia, are caused by a dysfunction of brain chemical messengers (neurotransmitters) without any loss of nerve cells, and they are often treated with medicines. Patients whose dystonia affects only one area usually respond well to botulinum toxin injections. But in patients whose condition is severe, DBS surgery is usually the only option.
DBS is a surgery in which thin electrodes are placed inside the brain and connected to a pacemaker-like pulse generator under the skin. For dystonia, the electrodes are placed in the globus pallidus. The device sends controlled electrical impulses that modulate the neuronal circuits and try to correct faulty signalling.
“Placing the electrodes accurately is important but programming them is equally important. The success of this procedure depends on both the surgery and the programming,” he says. The boy then underwent reprogramming of his device (DBS programming) under Dr. Bhowmick and improved gradually. “His hand movements are better, he has started walking and now plays with other children. He comes for follow-up here every six months,” he adds.
As awareness is low, the patients often reach the specialist for dystonia treatment after much delay. Though the symptoms may be as ordinary as neck pain or task-specific, such as writer’s cramp or musician’s dystonia, where spasms occur only during that activity, they mustn’t be ignored.
“If a person develops persistent difficulty in moving body parts due to stiffness or pain, they must consult a neurologist. Movement disorder specialists are neurologists who can manage dystonia with the appropriate medical or surgical therapy,” says Dr. Bhowmick.
Stroke and the need for urgent care
When an artery in the brain is blocked, the speed of treatment matters. One morning after breakfast, a 78-year-old woman suddenly could not feel any strength in her right hand, leg or face, and she was also unable to understand anything said to her. Sensing the gravity of the situation, her family immediately called their family physician, who recognised the symptoms as an onset of stroke and asked them to rush her to Zydus Hospital, Vadodara, a stroke-ready centre for emergency stroke treatment, where she underwent all required tests including a CT scan and MRI on a priority basis, and she was immediately seen by a neurologist who diagnosed her with an ischemic stroke. In this condition, a clot blocks an artery in the brain and cuts off the nearby blood supply. Millions of neurons die every minute that blood flow is not restored and survivors who are not treated within the golden hour (4-hour window from the onset of stroke) are always left with lasting disabilities. To avoid any such repercussions, the doctors rushed her to the Cath lab for a mechanical thrombectomy to reopen the blocked artery as quickly as possible. A thin catheter is guided through an artery to the blocked vessel in the brain and the clot is drawn out with a stent retriever (a tiny mesh device).
“Right after the procedure, we could see a flicker of movement in her right side, and this was the first sign that blood flow had been restored. We did a CT scan in the Cath lab itself that showed restored blood flow, further confirming the success of the procedure,” says Dr. Suresh Nayak, Neurosurgeon at Zydus, Vadodara. She soon recovered and was discharged within three days.
“Had she reached us any later, she could have faced grave consequences (potentially, paralysis of her right side), which would have placed a heavy financial and emotional burden on her and her family. This just shows how facilities (MRI and CT scan), expertise (full-time neurologist and stroke neurosurgeon) and manpower can give diametrically opposite results. When it comes to a stroke, reaching the right centre on time makes all the difference,” he added.
Surgery for drug-resistant epilepsy
Faulty signalling in the brain can also appear as seizures. A 6-year-old girl had a history of recurrent seizures that began after a head injury at six months of age, which damaged the left side of her brain. Over the years, her seizures gradually became more frequent, leading to repeated falls and injuries. Despite treatment with several anti-seizure medicines, the seizures remained uncontrolled. After consulting multiple centres, her family finally brought her to Dr. Rathore, an epilepsy specialist in Vadodara. By then, she had weakness on the right side of her body (right hemiparesis) and was experiencing seizures every day. An MRI scan revealed scarring of brain tissue (gliosis) and fluid-filled cavities (cystic lesions) in the left half of her brain, resulting from the earlier injury. She was diagnosed with drug-resistant epilepsy, a condition in which seizures continue despite treatment with appropriate anti-seizure medicines. Given the severity of her condition, epilepsy surgery was recommended.
Video EEG monitoring, which records brain activity alongside video of the patient, confirmed that her seizures originated from the left side of the brain. Since this side is usually responsible for language, special testing was performed to assess her language function. When the left side of her brain was temporarily anaesthetised, she could still speak, indicating that her language function was supported by the other side of the brain. She subsequently underwent a left hemispherectomy, a highly complex operation in which the affected half of the brain is disconnected from the rest of the brain to control seizures. The surgery took eight hours and was successful. She is now seizure-free, her falls have stopped, and she has resumed her daily activities.
“Whenever seizures remain uncontrolled despite appropriate medicines, epilepsy surgery should be considered. In carefully selected patients, surgery can provide lasting seizure control and a significant improvement in quality of life,” says Dr. Rathore.
Moyamoya disease and brain bypass surgery
Warning signs in young patients are not always recognised in time. Few parents think a child could have a serious brain condition, so symptoms that come and go are easily brushed off. A 14-year-old boy reportedly had episodes in which he would not speak and answered only with yes or no gestures for a short while. His family sensed something was wrong but did not consult a doctor. A few months later, he developed difficulty writing, a weak grip and limb shaking, and the family consulted Dr. Chaturbhuj Rathore, Neurologist at Zydus Hospital, Vadodara. He diagnosed these episodes as transient ischaemic attacks, or TIAs, which are temporary interruptions of blood flow to the brain that cause short-lived stroke-like symptoms. An MRI with an MR angiogram (a scan of the brain’s arteries) showed no blood flow beyond the supraclinoid segment of the internal carotid artery (the part of the main brain artery just before it divides into branches). Moyamoya disease was suspected. His assessment then continued with a neurosurgeon in Vadodara.
Dr. Bhagwati Salgotra, Neurosurgeon at Zydus Hospitals, Vadodara, confirmed it with digital subtraction angiography (DSA), an X-ray technique in which dye injected through a catheter shows blood vessels in detail. Moyamoya disease is a progressive narrowing of the terminal internal carotid arteries, the main vessels that supply the front and middle regions of the brain. As they narrow, the brain grows a network of fine collateral vessels (alternative routes) around the blockage. On angiography, these look like a “puff of smoke,” which is what moyamoya means in Japanese. The disease is more common in people of East Asian descent and is rare in India. Sickle cell disease (an inherited blood disorder), which is common in parts of the Udaipur region, is also a known cause. This boy had neither East Asian ancestry nor any apparent features of sickle cell disease, yet he developed moyamoya.
The boy’s brain already showed signs of chronic disease, suggesting it had begun three to four years earlier, and both sides of the brain were affected. Branches of one of the main arteries were feeding the frontal lobe, and an artery that normally supplies the scalp and face (the external carotid artery) was reaching the brain through a vessel called the middle meningeal artery. These detours kept the brain going, but whenever blood flow dipped, the brain went short of supply, which caused his speech difficulty, weak grip and limb shaking.
The only solution was to give these regions a fresh blood supply, and without treatment, repeated episodes could lead to a full stroke. The surgeons performed an STA-MCA bypass (a form of brain bypass surgery), in which the superficial temporal artery (a scalp artery, which showed good flow on angiography) was joined to the middle cerebral artery (a major artery inside the brain), so that the scalp artery could carry blood directly to the brain. The left side was operated on first, and after he recovered, the right side. Each surgery took about three hours. Three to four days after surgery, he spoke fewer words, but an MRI showed no new problem, and within weeks he was talking normally. A repeat DSA is planned three months after surgery to check the bypass.
“Better diagnostic tools mean these diseases are detected more often today. If parents notice sudden speech difficulty, weakness or shaking in a child, they should see a doctor without delay,” says Dr. Salgotra.
Neurological conditions can develop suddenly or progress over months or years, affecting people of any age. Recognising persistent or unexplained symptoms and seeking medical attention early can help identify the underlying cause and ensure timely treatment. In patients with drug-resistant epilepsy, early referral to a specialised epilepsy centre can make a life-changing difference.
The neurology and neurosurgery team at Zydus Hospital Vadodara
Vadodara has the state’s largest neuro team at Zydus Hospital which include Sr. Neurologists, Dr. Rakesh Shah, Dr. Chaturbhuj Rathore, Dr. Anand Vaishnav, Dr. Mihir Acharya, Dr. Kaushik Rana, Dr. Maulik Panchal, Dr. Suvorit S Bhowmick, and Sr. Neuro and Endovascular Surgeons, Dr. Suresh Nayak, Dr. Bhagwati Salgotra, Dr. Viral Mehta, Dr. Rakesh Jasani, and Dr. Pratik Parekh.
To know more, visit https://zydushospitals.com/
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