Renal cancer surgery gives woman new lease of life

Doctors at Apollo Hospitals, Tiruchi, have successfully performed a renal cancer removal surgery on a 54-year-old woman. The cancer was in stage three and had gone unidentified, according to them.

The patient, a resident of Tiruchi city, visited the hospital for routine health check-up when doctors identified a cancerous tumour. “The cancer had travelled through the Inferior Vena Cava [IVC], upwards towards the heart. However, PET scans were taken to check further spread of the cancer and we found that it had not spread elsewhere,” Alagappan Chockalingam, consultant urologist said.

Within a couple of days, in the first week of January, she was operated upon to remove the tumour. “We approached the kidney directly despite the involvement of the heart and used a technology called TransEsophageal Echo, which, in simple terms, is like a CCTV camera for surveillance of the heart chambers through the food pipe,” Dr. Chockalingam said.

The other option would have been to approach cancer via IVC, which would increase the risk manifold.

After eight-hour-long surgery, the right kidney and the cancerous tumour was removed. The patient was discharged within five days and recovering well, the doctors said.