Kolkata: Achieving another milestone, Kolkata's Nil Ratan Medical College and Hospital doctors used a rare technique to remove a tumour from the pancreas of a 32-year-old woman and saved her. Doctors said in this surgery, which took seven hours, the chance for survival is very low. Ten such surgeries have been conducted in the world till now, doctors said.
The patient, named Pooja Giri, a resident of the East Midnapore district, was suffering from a severe abdominal pain for the last three months. The pain would intensify after eating. She came for treatment at the Nil Ratan Sircar Medical College and Hospital in January. Doctors prescribed an ultrasound that revealed she had a tumour in her pancreas. The pain was caused due to this tumour.
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She was admitted under the supervision of Dr Utpal Day, a professor of the surgery department of the state-owned hospital. Dr Dey said the tumour had started spreading from the pancreas and this was a major cause for concern. So, removing the pancreas was the only way for her to survive but it is very risky, he said adding, patients often collapse on the operation table itself.
"In order to remove the tumour, the portal vein, which drains the blood from pancreas to liver, was carefully cut out and replaced by an artificial vein to help in normal functioning. This artificial vein was taken from another part of the woman's body. The procedure that we followed during the surgery is very rare. It may even be a first of its kind in Kolkata,," Dr Dey told ETV Bharat.
Headed by Dr Dey, the team of surgeons included Dr Krishna Prakash, Dr Riaz Ansari and Dr Bipasha Saha. The operation has given a new lease of life to the patient as well as her family. "Now, I am better. I will remember the way the doctors cured me for the rest of my life. They have done a lot for me," Pooja said.
