A 55-year-old woman, who underwent a laparoscopic Whipple surgical procedure for treating pancreatic cancer at the Thanjavur Medical College Hospital, was discharged on December 29.
Medical college Dean R. Balajinathan told presspersons here on Friday that the woman hailing from Mannargudi, Tiruvarur district, was brought to the hospital with jaundice and weight loss in the second week of November. She was found to be suffering from pancreatic cancer.
Subsequently, she was admitted and underwent laparoscopic Whipple procedure in the last week of November performed by a team of doctors headed by the head of the Department of Surgical Gastroenterology, U. Aravindan.
Her recovery from pancreatic cancer was made possible by the availability of a state-of-the-art operating theatre with advanced surgical equipment and well-trained supporting staff at the newly built superspeciality block.
Stating that cancer in pancreas was lethal, Dr. Aravindan said surgery was the primary treatment for pancreatic cancer and was performed by open method owing to its complexity in the recent past. While 77 pancreatic cancer patients had been treated at the hospital by performing open Whipple procedures in the last five years, this time the woman from Mannargudi underwent highly advanced completely laparoscopic Whipple surgical procedure and had recovered in about a month.
Alcoholism, smoking, changes in dietary habits and certain types of hereditary reasons are attributed to the cause of pancreatic cancer, Dr. Balajinathan said the woman had undergone the laparoscopic surgical procedure which would cost ₹7 lakh to ₹8 lakh in private hospitals, free of cost at the TMC Hospital under the Chief Minister’s Comprehensive Medical Insurance Scheme.
