A 51-year-old woman from West Bengal was recently treated for peritoneal surface cancer at Apollo Cancer Centre here. She has since returned home to live a normal life, said doctors.
The patient underwent a minimally invasive robotic cytoreductive surgery (CRS). The surgery reduces trauma and blood loss and the need for pain medications. She had developed pseudomyxoma peritonei, a rare type of cancer that results in the growth of mucus in the abdomen and pelvis. It is also known as ‘jelly belly’. The mucus can come from ruptured ovarian cysts, appendix or other abdominal tissues. The woman had earlier undergone several surgeries, and her uterus, ovaries, appendix, and a part of omentum (a layer of peritoneum that supports abdominal structures such as the stomach and liver) had been removed.
Doctors said the earlier surgery had left her with a high-grade mucinous tumour of the appendix with pseudomyxoma peritonei. Investigations revealed that the patient had residual mucinous implants (gelatinous deposits in the abdomen following the surgery for appendicular mucinous tumours) in the pelvis and around the cecum (first part of the colon).
Cancer of the appendix tends to spread to the lining of a patient’s abdomen. Hence, Ajit Pai, senior consultant in surgical oncology and robotic surgery at Apollo Cancer Centre, decided on CRS to reduce the amount of cancer cells in the abdominal cavity. The patient was also given hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy, which involves filling the abdominal cavity with heated chemotherapy drugs.
Dr. Pai said this was done to eliminate possible residual tumours in the abdomen. According to him, outside of some centres in Spain and China, Apollo Hospitals’ Cancer Care Centre was the first to offer the procedure.
Dinesh Madhavan, president, group oncology and international, Apollo Hospitals Enterprises, said the hospital leveraged technology to enhance treatment outcomes, reduce recovery time, and provide patients with the most advanced therapies.
