First stereotaxy Workshop In India

The first stereotaxy workshop in India- Dr. G. Arjundas, Dr. B. Ramamurthi, Dr. K. Jagannathan (standing), Lawrence Walsh and Dennis Williams (left to right)
• In 1960 Dr. B. Ramamurthi from Madras Medical College received an invitation for Dinner with the Governor of Hyderabad, General Shrinagesh who was suffering from Parkinson’s disease
• Governor had undergone unilateral lesion in London by Lawrence Walsh at Atkinson Morley Hospital. He asked Ramamurthi if such treatment is available in India as he had recurrence of symptoms on opposite side of his body. Ramamurthi explained that though he had the necessary expertise, the equipments were not available in India.
• Governor with the help of Pandit Nehru (Prime Minister of India at time) brought Lawrence Walsh and Dennis Williams from England to India for the ‘first stereotaxy workshop’ in 1960 at Chennai.
• In 3 weeks workshop they performed 40 surgeries and 30 neuroscientists participated in it.
• On completion of the Workshop they left the Leksell stereotactic apparatus and the lesion generator back in Madras. This was the significant event after which Madras became a leading stereotactic center.

Attendees of the first stereotaxy workshop, Later pioneered the technique of stereotactic surgery in India (left to right)  Drs. Kalyanaraman, Ramamurthi, Balasubramaniam (Neurosurgeons), Jagannathan, and Arjundas (Neurologists).

Lawrence Walsh, Chief Nurse, Ramamurthi and Dennis Williams

Balasubramaniam Ramamurthi (1922-2003)

• He was born in Sirkazhi, Tamil Nadu.
• He completed an MS in General Surgery from the Madras Medical College and went on to complete FRCS at Edinburgh in 1947.
• He started Neurosurgery unit at Madras Medical College in 1950, a year after Jacob Chandy started in CMC Vellore.
• Pioneer of stereotaxy in India. Significant contribution in making possible ‘ the first stereotaxy workshop in India’ in 1960.
• In 1962 Along with V Balasubramaniam, Ramamurthi performed surgeries on 12 movement disorder patients using Cooper’s balloon.
• The first Secretary of Neurological Society of India.
• Served as the Dean of the Hospital and Principal of the Madras Medical College and Honorary Vice Chancellor of the University of Madras.
• He was appointed as the President of the World Federation of Neurosurgical Societies in 1987 and also served as the former President of the National Board of Medical Examinations in India.







Dr. B. Ramamurthi explaining stereotaxy to the President of India, Shri V. V. Giri at Madras Institute of Neurology.





















Visit by Sir Wilder Penfield in 1957 - Seen in the picture are Dr. G. Arjundas, Dr. S. T. Narasimhan, Dr. B. Ramamurthy, Dr. R. Narayanan, Dr. S. Balaparameshwara Rao, and Dr. Penfield.

Jacob Chandy (1910-2007)

• Born in Kottayam, Kerala
• He did MBBS from Madras Medical College in 1936. In 1939 he joined Mission Hospital in Bahrain. In 1944 he joined University of Pennsylvania to complete his MD.
• In 1945, he received a fellowship from the Montreal Neurological Institute (MNI) and continued to practice surgery till 1948.
• Started The First Department of Neurology and Neurosurgery at CMC in 1949,
• In 1962, CMC acquired the Bertrand stereotactic guide, with the help of which they performed surgeries for Parkinson’s disease and epilepsies.
• He founded the Neurological Society of India in 1951, along with B. Ramamurthi, Baldev Singh and S. T. Narasimhan
• He was the first president of Neurological society of India
• He was the first surgeon in India to perform an epilepsy surgery on 25 August 1952, on a patient suffering from right infantile hemiplegia and medially refractory seizures • In 1964, the Government of India honoured him with Padmabhushan, for his services in the fields of neurosurgery and medical education.

V Balasubramaniam

• The first president of The Indian Society of Stereotactic and Functional Neurosurgery (1997)
• One of the Pioneer of stereotaxy in India. One of the Attendee of ‘the first stereotaxy workshop in India’ in 1960.
• In 1962 Along with Dr B. Ramamurthi he performed chemopallidectomy surgeries on 12 movement disorder patients using Cooper’s balloon.
• From 1964 they used the Leksell’s apparatus to perform thermal lesions for movement disorders.
• He was the one among the excellent epilepsy surgery team at Madras along with B Ramamurthi, Kalyanaraman and Kanaka as neurosurgical colleagues.
• Balasubramaniam and Kanaka found that depth studies were useful in understanding the propagation of epileptic discharges and also provided precise localization of the epileptic focus.

S. Kalyanaraman

• One of the Pioneer of stereotaxy in India. One of the Attendee of ‘the first stereotaxy workshop in India’ in 1960
• He reported simultaneous use of Leksell stereotactic equipment and Sehgal stereotactic equipment to perform simultaneous targeting of intracranial structures
• Kalyanaraman, performed bilateral simultaneous thalamotomies in patients with various movement disorders with acceptable complication rate.
• Obtained PhD degree from Edinburgh, University on ‘‘Anatomical and Physiological studies on the internal capsule and adjacent diencephalic structures during human stereotaxy”.
• He postulated that in an area in the posterior limb of the internal capsule, medial to the pyramidal tract where lie the corticospinal fibers that form the common pathway for the epileptic seizure.
• To test this hypothesis, they performed bilateral internal capsulotomy on seven patients with intractable grand mal epilepsy, had good outcome in three patients.

R. Marthanda Verma

• Born in Mavelikkara, Kerala
• Pioneer of stereotaxy in Bangalore.
• He did master's course at the University of Bristol and completed the Fellowship of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh
• RM Varma started a neurosurgical unit in the (then) All India Institute of Medical Health, Bangalore, in 1958.
• Varma played significant role in the formation of the National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences (NIMHANS) from All India Institute of Medical Health .
• Varma started performing lesions for Parkinson’s disease using a unique free hand technique through foramen ovale known as Varma’s technique
• He was a former Deputy Director General of Health Services, Government of India and an honorary surgeon to R. Venkataraman, former president of India
• He was honoured by the Government of India in 1972 with Padma Shri, the fourth highest Indian civilian award.

H M Dastur

• Pioneer of stereotaxy in Mumbai
• Started stereotactic surgery at King Edward Memorial (KEM) Hospital Mumbai in 1959.
• Initially he used Oliver’s guide and latter used Narabayashi frame to perform stereotactic surgery
• Later on in 1975, Dastur joined Jaslok Hospital, Bombay (Mumbai), where he continued to perform stereotactic surgery using a Reichert-Mundinger frame.