Surgeries He Focuses On:
Carson focuses on traumatic brain injuries, brain and spinal cord tumors, achondroplasia, neurological and congenital disorders, craniosynostosis, epilepsy and trigeminal neuralgia.
Surgical Innovations He Has Done:
The first intrauterine procedure to relieve pressure on the brain of a hydrocephalic fetal twin, hemispherectomy, a girl was suffering uncontrollable seizures and had her left hemisphere of the brain removed.
Carniopagus Twins:
Carson made medical history in 1987 by being the first surgeon to successfully separate conjoined twins that were joined on the back of the head.
Carson's Carniopagus Sheet:
Carson used this sheet to understand what joins the two heads of the twins and also, what he can do to separate both heads from each other.
(Seizures) Left Hemisphere:
In the 1980's Ben Carson preformed a a hemispherectomy surgery on a little girl that would have uncontrollable seizures during the day and it happened everyday. Ben removed the girl's skull, carefully removed the left hemisphere, let her rest to see the effects or the conclusion. The little girl could speak, think, and it was like if the left hemisphere was still there.
Adult Separation:
In 2003, Carson had to face his biggest challenge: two adult conjoined twins. Ladan and Laleh, were 29 when they decided to be separated. Ben didn't know what to really do, he was trying to convince the twins but they made him go along with the idea. Ben had more than 100 surgeons with him, specialists, and assistants conducted the 52 hour operation in July 8 in Singapore ( Southeast Asia ). Both Laleh and Ladan died because of severe blood loss midway in the separation.
Laden on the left and Laleh on the right.
Present Day Surgeries:
He performs as many as 300 operations per year - more than twice the caseload of a typical neurosurgeon. Focuses on the most fragile patients - children, newborns - and on the most difficult brain-related conditions.
The Makwaeba Twins:
Ben thought that the carniopagus twins surgery was an once in a lifetime surgery, but it wasn't. On January 1994 he received a phone call from a doctor named Samuel Mokgokong, and he asked if he can go to Medunsa. When Ben Carson arrived the twins were sick and they would need months to recover. Ben knew that he was going to operate with doctors he barely knew, the girls got even more sick and the surgery was the girls only hope. During the surgery, one of the girls had a seizure and 2 days later died, one of the girls kidney's stopped working.