Lucknow, Dec 14 (IANS): Doctors at the King George's Medical University (KGMU) in Lucknow have performed a rare and complex surgery called percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy (PEG) on a 57-year-old woman suffering from a rare motor neuron disease (MND).

The surgery will facilitate in treatment of MND.

According to doctors, this is the first time that such a surgery was done in KGMU.

The patient from Pratapgarh was admitted to the Gandhi ward at KGMU on December 9. After examination, doctors of liver and hepatobiliary unit of department of medicine found that she was suffering from MND.

As a result, her motor nerves or neurons were damaged leading to weakening of muscles and posing threat of paralysis.

"The woman was suffering from a rare disease occurring in 2 out of every 1 lakh. Due to the disease, most of her neurons were damaged and as a result she had stopped taking food and water for the past 20 days," said Dr Ajay Kumar Patwa.

"In such a case we had to do a surgery to provide proper nutrition to keep the patient alive because due to damage to neurons, the body was gradually getting paralyzed and the patient would have died of malnutrition.

"The condition of the patient was critical, and we were not able to make any incision as it could have been fatal. So, we performed PEG surgery by inserting endoscope in her stomach and with the help of needle to insert gastrostomy tube which helped her to feed and provide nutrition," he added.

Her health has improved and now she is properly taking food, water and medicine through the tube.

If she continues to take medicines through the tube, it is likely that she may recover from MND in six months, he added.