Surgery on patient with reversed location of organs

The laparoscopic procedure, done on May 21 lasted 45 minutes and the patient was discharged three days later.

Chief of Surgery of KGH and Principal of Andhra Medical College G. Shanta Rao examining S. Saraswathi who has the condition of all her organs located in a reverse position and has recently undergone laparoscopic surgery to get her gall bladder removed, in Visakhapatnam. Photo: K.R. Deepak

The condition of all anatomical organs like heart, liver, appendix, etc. located in the reverse side of normal location-like a mirror image, in a human body is one in 20,000 and performing surgery on such patients is a difficult task.

However, a team of surgeons led by Chief of Surgery of King George Hospital, G. Shanta Rao, who is also Principal of Andhra Medical College, recently performed laparoscopic surgery to remove gall bladder of a 26-year-old woman. This is the 33rd reported laparoscopic procedure of such type in the world, said Dr. Shanta Rao at a press conference here on Friday.

Mother of two children S. Saraswathi from Coromandel gate area was having pain in the left upper abdomen for the last three years.

Clinical test

Clinical examination of the problem, which included ultra sound scanning, X-ray, CT scan, etc. revealed that she was having the condition of situs inversus totalis (organs positioned in the reverse side) with stones in the gall bladder.

“Situs inversus totalis is a congenital problem and though by itself it is not a disease, it may be sometimes associated with certain lung-related abnormalities. As the organs are located in abnormal positions it is difficult to make a diagnosis of the disease and to perform surgery because of abnormal presentation of symptoms and clinical features”, Dr. Shanta Rao said.

The laparoscopic procedure, done on May 21 lasted 45 minutes and the patient was discharged three days later.