Surgeons in Saudi Arabia save a child from a rare and deadly brain illness.

A two-year-old Saudi boy underwent a life-saving procedure to remove a burst cyst, a rare congenital defect that may have resulted in a deadly brain infection.

Surgeons at Makkah’s Maternity & Children Hospital undertook a four-hour procedure to save the child’s life after he acquired repeated brain infections.

The hospital’s experts revealed the youngster had a congenital cyst.The medical team explained in a statement released by the hospital that the mother noticed the child “holding his head and crying continuously.”The condition developed into pus coming out of the back of the two-year-old boy’s head, and losing consciousness and movement.

When he was taken to the hospital, an MRI indicated that the congenital cyst had grown in size, with pus accumulating in the cerebellum and pressing on nearby nerve tissue.

The condition could have been fatal if not treated.

The successful surgery that was performed using a microscope took four hours, after which the child was discharged.

Arachnoid cysts are the most common type of brain cyst. They are congenital (present at birth) lesions that occur as a result of the splitting of the arachnoid membrane. The cysts are fluid-filled sacs, not tumors, appearing in one of the three layers of tissue covering the central nervous system.

Surgical treatment of this condition involves draining the cyst by drilling a small hole or by opening the skull and making small openings in the cyst to open the natural fluid pathways in the brain.