The Hyderabad-based Global Hospitals has performed an innovative medical procedure called Total Laparoscopic Whipples operation to treat pancreatic cancer in a 45 year old male patient.

Earlier last week a 45 year old male patient was admitted in the Global Hospital with abdominal pain and unexplained severe weight loss. Upon evaluation, the patient was detected to have chronic pancreatitis with dilated ductal system of liver and pancreas with a mass/tumour in the head of pancreas. After a careful review of the options, Surgeons at Global Hospitals came up with an innovative surgery option to benefit the patient in the long run.

While explaining about the new medical procedure, Dr. Vijayakumar C Bada, senior consultant, Department of Surgical Gastroenterology says, “Total laparoscopic whipples operation is first of its kind surgery performed in Telangana. Only a few centers in India have the capability to handle such a kind of complex nature of case. Under normal circumstances an open whipples operation would have been performed, as is the case to treat such problems. But this patient being a young male and a strenuous worker by occupation and the risk of respiratory and wound problems, so we decided to go for total laparoscopic Whipples operation, which is an extremely challenging but at the same time beneficial for the patient in the long run.”

According to the doctors at Global Hospitals, even though surgical removal of the cancer (whipples operation) provides the best chance of cure to these patients, only around 30 per cent out of the total cases are presented in an operable stage. However, the incidence of pancreatic cancers usually is seen in the elderly age groups (people above >60 yrs). But in the last few years there has been an increase in the number of patients who are in their middle ages and being diagnosed with the disease.

As per the statistics of world health organisation, pancreatic cancer accounts for about 8 per cent of all cancer related deaths in the world. It is considered to be the fourth leading cause of cancer deaths across the globe.