Keyhole Surgery Speeds Patient Battle With Cancer - Removing Tumor From Liver And Lower Intestine At The Same Time

Main Category: Cancer / Oncology
Also Included In: GastroIntestinal / Gastroenterology;  Liver Disease / Hepatitis;  Medical Devices / Diagnostics
Article Date: 14 Apr 2009 - 3:00 PDT

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Surgeons at The Royal London Hospital, Whitechapel have successfully performed one of the first double operations in the UK using keyhole surgery to remove cancerous tumours from a man's liver and lower intestine. Just months before going in for surgery, patient Dennis O'Neill (59) was causing doctors a dilemma - do they explore relatively untried waters for the double operation on the liver and colon and choose keyhole surgery or go in the conventional way.

Opting for the keyhole method, the ten and a half-hour double operation involved the removal of a large lower intestinal tumour roughly the size of a man's size 10 training shoe (30cmsx8cms) and a smaller five cms tumour from his liver.

Conducting the operation by keyhole surgery rather than the conventional invasive method meant:

- surgeons could maintain an enhanced visual field while operating
- less post-operative pain for patient
- a shorter hospital stay - six days instead of at least 12 days
- quicker recovery time down by a few weeks
- a smaller 5cm scar.

Now, less than four months after the operation, Dennis from Dagenham in Essex is over the moon proudly professing:

"The keyhole surgery has given me a new lease of life! I've got three children, and want to see my youngest grow up to be a rock star. I want to travel, and start enjoying myself. I'm going to have the time of my life!"

Looking back, Dennis commented:

"In August 2008, I got the shocking news: I had tumours in my colon and liver that were aggressive and inoperable. I just thought: 'that's me then'. Six months ago, it looked like I was down the swanny without a paddle.

"But as I underwent chemotherapy, I tried to stay positive - and when the tumours halved after just two sessions, I was transferred to The Royal London, under liver surgeon Mr Hemant Kocher.

"He introduced me to the colon surgeon, Mr Shafi Ahmed - and said they would together try and remove both tumours, in one op, hopefully using keyhole surgery. I was pleased that they could operate, and that I wasn't going to be split down the middle.

"I had my liver done first, then the colon. I was watching snooker on the telly two days later - it was amazing! I was treated like a lord at The Royal London. The way they looked after me was unbelievable - nurses, doctors, everyone. Everything about the hospital was superb. What a fantastic result, given I was one of the first in the country- and I was home in six days! Now the x-rays show that they've done a lovely job and my scars are healing up well."

As a precaution, Dennis is continuing with a course of chemotherapy until June to wipe out any cancerous cells that may still remain.

Consultant liver surgeon, Mr Hemant Kocher, said:

"Treating metastatic bowel cancer this way has been made possible due to the multi-disciplinary team approach. Radiation oncologists, liver and bowel surgeons, anaesthetists and radiologists play a big role in the decision-making process and treatment options. This patient's stay in hospital has been shortened and his post-operative pain severely reduced by the keyhole surgery procedure.

"The multi-disciplinary team approach is a hallmark of the Barts and The London HPB (HepatoPancreaticoBiliary) Centre, now a leading specialist centre and one of the largest in England. Increasingly, patients are being referred to us from other hospitals because of our expertise and teamwork."

Consultant colorectal surgeon Mr Shafi Ahmed said:

"This was one of the first such procedures to use keyhole surgery in the UK. What was so key to the success of this operation was the team effort and the collaboration of everyone involved. That was partly why we all felt so confident the keyhole surgery in this case was going to work."

- Keyhole surgery, also known as laparoscopic surgery, is a method of carrying out an operation without having to make a large incision. Many different types of operations can now be carried out using keyhole surgery. It minimises the length of time the patient needs to stay in hospital and leaves little scarring. The key element is the use of either a laparoscope connected to a video camera or a digital laparascope, creating in both cases an enhanced visual field for surgeons.

- Barts and The London is one of Britain's top teaching hospital trusts. Our mission is literally to bring excellence to life - to give patients the best possible care so that they can live better, fuller, longer lives.

- Our world-renowned hospitals - St Bartholomew's (Barts) in the City, The Royal London in Whitechapel and The London Chest in Bethnal Green - have made and continue to make an outstanding contribution to modern medicine.

- Our £1 billion new hospitals programme is set to transform healthcare facilities locally. When completed the new hospital at The Royal London will be the biggest new hospital in the country, while the new buildings at Barts will house a brand-new cancer hospital and cardiac centre.

Source
The Royal London Hospital