Calcutta, Feb. 13 :
Calcutta, Feb. 13:
Surgeons at the Institute of Laparoscopic Surgery in Salt Lake have achieved a rare feat - removing a tumour 'the size of a dressed chicken' from the large intestine of Rakesh Garg, 38.
'The surgery, laparoscopic hemicolectomy, was the first of its kind in eastern India,' said Dr Om Tantia, director of the Institute, who led the team last week.
Garg had been suffering for two-and-a-half years. 'I could hardly eat as my stomach always felt full... I lost nearly 12 kg in the past six months,' he recalled, recuperating at the Institute, four days after the operation. 'I am grateful to God and the doctors here for curing me,' he added.
'The tumour was causing a partial obstruction in his large intestine. The patient came to me last Monday, I checked him, admitted him immediately, and conducted the operation on Wednesday,' said Tantia. 'There were three surgeons assisting me, an anaesthetist, two technicians and two nurses. The operation took nearly three hours.'
The uniqueness of the case lies in the fact that if a conventional surgery had been carried out, a minimum of a 10-inch incision would have been made and about 150 ml to 300 ml of blood would have been lost. 'But we just made a 4-cm incision to bring out the tumour and three 5-mm holes to insert a camera and the instruments. The patient lost only a tablespoon full of blood, and he could sit up and eat 48 hours after the operation,' added Tantia.
The Institute has recorded 671 laparoscopic surgeries since it opened in July last year. But the laparoscopic hemicolectomy, involving removal of half the colon along with the tumour, was performed for the first time on Garg. 'We have heard about this particular operation being conducted in Coimbatore and Hyderabad,' said Tantia.
Monday, 07 July 2025