Surgery

First Successful NOTES Surgery in Western India

Stitch-less abdominal surgery provides relief against abdominal disorders

Dr Roy (left) with the patient

A first-of-its-kind stitch-less abdominal surgery was performed successfully on a Mumbai-based 67-year-old patient at Joy Hospital in Mumbai.

A completely stitch less abdominal surgery called as Natural Orifice Transluminal Endoscopic Surgery (NOTES) was performed by Dr Roy Patankar of Joy Hospital. Dr Patankar treated the fluid accumulated in the stomach with minimal pain and has assured quick recovery for the patient. Being a stitch-less surgery, it has left the patient with no scars on the outer surface of the abdomen. Doctors at Joy Hospital confirmfed the surgery as first of its kind performed in Mumbai and Western India.

Narrating the patient's medical history, Dr Patankar said, "She was brought to the hospital with a bloated stomach. She also faced problems related to difficulty in consuming food, loss of appetite and severe pain in the stomach. Intake of regular medicines showed no signs of recovery." Subsequently CT scan, blood tumor markers and fluid removal with analysis had been unable to clarify the exact cause of the disease. "In the past, the patient had also undergone surgery twice whereby fluid was removed from the stomach. But to her misfortune, the fluid continued to form and recollect rapidly causing loss of appetite and severe pain," added Dr Patankar.

Talking about the NOTES, Dr Patankar said, "After undergoing medical examination at Joy Hospital, the patient was given local anaesthesia that lasted for 20 minutes, in which period surgery was completed. The surgery involved insertion of thin flexible endoscope through the vagina into the abdominal cavity. Further biopsies were taken from the doubtful areas of the body and a specially designed narrow band endoscope with monochromatic blue light was used to diagnose the problem."

Elaborating on the benefits of NOTES, Dr Patankar informed, "The specially designed endoscope diagnoses the smallest areas of cancers and helps to identify the problematic areas in the body. It also helps to target the biopsies. In this case, the biopsies have confirmed the disease as 'Adeno-Carcinoma' and the patient has been advised further treatment."

Doctors from Joy Hospital confirms that NOTES has to be performed by the surgeon who is trained and experienced , in not only laparoscopy but also endoscopy. They have also raised hope about the up gradation of the technique in the near future.

Further advancements in the surgery may observe removing of gallbladder or a burst appendix through the vagina or mouth with no cuts or scars on the abdomen. Efforts are on to conduct the abdominal surgery through vagina, stomach or large intestine which will provide benefits to the patient, like quick recovery, less pain and most importantly no scar on abdomen.

EH News Bureau