Surgeons at VGM Hospital in Coimbatore have successfully performed a tumour-affected liver surgery, claimed to be more complex than even cadaveric transplant. The doctors removed a tumour, biliary pathway, and more than 60 percent of the infected liver from the patient.

According to the hospital chairman, Dr. V.G. Mohanprasad, the patient, a 52-year-old woman from Chennaimalai in Erode district, was brought to VGM Hospital with jaundice, acute abdominal pain, and weight loss of 20 kilos in the last one year.

During evaluation a large tumour was found on the left side of liver. The tumour had also spread into the biliary hilar confluence, the main pathway through which bile juice flows from the liver into the small intestine, he said.

Once doctors decided to remove the tumour by a major surgery in which the infected left side of liver and biliary pathway would also be removed, Dr. Anand Bharathan, Surgical Gastroenterologist, said that, as first step, a stent tube was placed into the biliary pathway by an endoscopic procedure, which helped to reduce the jaundice.

During the eight-and-half hour long surgery, called ‘extended left hepatectomy,’ the damaged left side of the liver, the biliary pathway, and the 12×8 cm tumour were all removed. The surgery was performed on June 17. The doctors had to take care to not damage the remaining 35 percent healthy liver, its blood supply, and the biliary drainage system.

The biopsy of the tumour tissues showed that the patient was suffering from hepatobiliary cystadenoma,’ a rare premalignant tumour that affects both the liver and biliary system.

The patient, who was present at the press conference, thanked the doctors and the hospital for performing the surgery at an affordable cost of Rs.2 lakhs. The surgery would have normally cost at least Rs. 8 lakhs.