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April war participant Hovhannes Poghosyan, who was seriously wounded in Artsakh in 2016, has undergone a successful head surgery at Nairi Medical Center in Yerevan, with the Armenian soldier gradually recovering in a warm and caring environment ensured by the entire hospital crew, relatives and even foreigners.

The unique and complex prosthetic surgery of calvaria was performed on 1 November with a special implant ordered from Germany for the operation.

Speaking to Panorama.am, the Chief of Endoscopic Neurosurgery and Spine Surgery at Nairi Medical Center, Arman Hakobyan, who performed the surgery, said that it aimed at restoring the integrity of the brain pan. “It [the surgery] has cosmetic significance and at the same time prevents possible complications. If that party of the brain lacks skull and the brain lies immediately under the skin, it is full of risks, which we have eliminated,” the doctor said, highlighting additional time and professional treatment are needed to restore the movements of Hovhannes’s arms and legs.

Dr. Hakobyan has performed dozens of surgeries, however Hovhannes’s injury was unique in its size.

“3D modelling prosthetics of such a grave skull defect is performed in Armenia for the first time. The 3D model implant corresponding to Hovhannes’s brain pan has been prepared abroad,” he said, underscoring the surgery would have been impossible if such an implant had not been acquired.

Hovhannes’s mother Gayane Asatryan says her son’s memory is slowly recovering, adding after the operation he is already able to utter clear words, while before the surgery his speech was twisted and distorted.
Ms. Gayane was initially convinced her son would overcome that hardship.

Hovhannes now has a positive attitude towards the future. “Everything passed away, a new day begins.”

To note, Hovhannes Poghosyan, born in 1995, received an injury in Talish, Nagorno-Karabakh, on 13 May 2016. He sustained a grave injury in the cerebrum, a brain fracture and other multiple shrapnel wounds.The serviceman was transferred to the hospital in Martakert where he underwent a surgery. Afterwards he was transferred to the hospital in Stepanakert and later on to Yerevan.

Hovhannes was in a coma for a long time and only 36 days later was he transferred from the intensive care unit to the ward. He has underwent three other head surgeries prior to this.