Mangaluru: A rare cancer surgery at Indiana Hospital sees a toddler smile again
Mangaluru – (Press releasse) A rare cancer surgery in performed by a multi-disciplinary team at the Indiana Hospital & Heart Institute here salvaged the limb of a 7-year old afflicted with osteosarcoma, a cancerous tumour in the bone. It was a rare operation as in normal circumstances, doctors would have felt it safer to amputate the child’s arm to save his life.
The patient who was admitted to Indiana Hospital a few days ago, had been diagnosed with high grade osteosarcoma, a primary bone cancer, that had affected his entire arm bone causing persistent pain, rapidly growing swelling and loss of function of the arm, giving him sleepless nights.
After initially subjecting him to chemotherapy for 10 weeks, Dr Navneet Kamath, Orthopedic oncologist at Indiana decided to go for the surgery. The patient’s entire arm bone and shoulder were detached and the tumour cells were removed using liquid oxygen (cryotherapy), and then the bone was re-implanted back onto the body. The successful operation lasted 10 hours.
In most cases, the limb would have had to be amputated as re-implanting would have been a near-impossible task. But Dr Navneet Kamath and team at Indiana Hospital took it as a challenge, and once again proved that the hospital is fully equipped to perform such rare surgeries successfully.
According to Dr. Navneeth, such complicated limb salvaging onco surgeries are usually performed only in metros and big cities, but Indiana has demonstrated that this can be done in two-tier cities like Mangalore as well.
“With this achievement, Mangalore has now become a tertiary medical hub for very rarely-performed oncology surgeries”, Dr. Yusuf Kumble, managing director, Indiana Hospital, said.
Adds Dr Navneeth: “Orthopaedic onco surgery on this part of the body is challenging because of the complex anatomy. In this particular case, complete removal of the tumour as well as saving the limb was taken up as a challenge, and we performed as a team, working towards a common goal of providing the patient the best possible service. People afflicted with bone and soft tissue cancers, if diagnosed and treated early, can be saved. Dedicated orthopaedic oncological surgical procedure can save even patients whose bone and soft tissues are afflicted with 80-90% cancer cells.” Besides Dr. Navneeth Kamat (Orthopaedic Onco-surgeon), the team included Dr. Jalaluddin (Orthopaedic surgeon), Dr. Nikhil and Dr. Harish (Anaesthetists), and Dr. Vasudev Bhat and Dr. Kalashekar (Paediatric Oncologists).
The Department of Surgical Oncology at Indiana Hospital performs all major and supra-major cancer surgeries, providing cancer patients in the region a ray of hope.
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Ballari maternal deaths: Karnataka govt. seeks explanation from CDSCO
Bengaluru: The Karnataka Government has sought clarification from the Central drugs standard control organisation following reports linking the serial deaths of pregnant women at Ballari District Hospital to unsafe IV Ringer's Lactate solution. Health Department Principal Secretary Harsha Gupta has written a letter to the Drugs Controller General of India, Rajeev Singh Raghuvanshi.
Recent Investigations revealed bacterial and fungal contaminants in the IV solution given to the women. Out of 192 batches supplied by a West Bengal-based pharmaceutical company, 22 were found substandard by the state drug control department, leading to the suspension of the medicine's use.
However, these batches had passed quality tests at the Central Drug Lab, creating a regulatory conflict.
The Health Department emphasized adherence to tender rules, stating that the Central Drug Lab's approval is legally binding. Samples from the problematic batches have been sent for re-testing at the central lab in West Bengal, with results expected on December 9.
As a precautionary measure, the state has blacklisted the implicated batches and issued directives to halt their use in all hospitals.
