Gastrointestinal cancer cured without surgery at Narayana Hospital

Mysuru:  A 50-year-old patient has been cured of Gastrointestinal Cancer without surgery at Narayana Multispeciality Hospital in Mysuru.  A routine Endoscopy showed small nodules (a lump or swelling) in his stomach and after Biopsy, it was confirmed that the patient had Carcinoma — a type of cancer in the first stage that develops in the tissue lining of the organ. Thereafter, a CT scan confirmed the early stage of GI Cancer.

The team of doctors in the Department of Gastrointestinal Diseases led by Dr. A.K. Satheesh Rao, Consultant Gastroenterologist at Narayana Multispeciality Hospital, Mysuru, reassured the patient and his family that there was hope for a cure.

“ESD is an advanced endoscopic procedure used to remove gastrointestinal tumours that have not entered the muscle layer. ESD may be done in Esophagus (food pipe), stomach or colon,” informed Dr. Rao.

In the procedure performed on the patient, a long and narrow tube was passed through the throat to reach the lesion in the stomach and a fluid was injected into the submucosa to elevate the lesion. Thereafter, an electrosurgical knife with a high-frequency electrical current was used to cut the tumour tissue free from the intestinal wall followed by cutting away the tumour itself. The electrical current stops any active bleeding. The tissue is removed from the body using the endoscopic procedure without surgery and sent to the laboratory. “This procedure is very safe with lesser complications and reduced hospital stay,” he said.

“With the development and widespread implementation of endoscopic techniques, such as chromoendoscopy and narrowband imaging, the diagnosis rates of patients with early gastric cancer have been increasing”, observed Dr. Rao.

Endoscopic Submucosal Dissection (ESD) is a new technique performed for the first time in Mysuru at Narayana Hospital. The patient had to stay in the hospital only for two days and discharged after removal of the tumour. On his way to recovery, the patient visited the hospital after two months to get another Endoscopy, which revealed that the tumour was not existing.