Shankar Jha (second from left) with his family members in Ranchi on Friday. Picture by Hardeep Singh

Ranchi, May 7: Shankar Jha can now eat properly. The 40-year-old oesophageal cancer patient has to thank Curie Abdur Razzaque Ansari Cancer Institute in Ranchi for that.

The hospital has achieved a milestone in treatment of cancer in the region with a successful radical food pipe surgery on Shankar, that too at a much lesser cost of Rs 1.25 lakh to 1.50 lakh.

Shankar, a resident of Baghwa village in Saharsa, had been having difficulty in swallowing for some time. Suspecting some serious ailment, his father took him to Jamshedpur, where a doctor diagnosed him with oesophageal cancer (cancer of the food pipe) and referred him to Curie Abdur Razzaque Cancer Institute.

Shankar reported at the Ranchi hospital on April 22. On April 26, a team of doctors led by chief oncologist surgeon Ajay Kumar, anaesthetist Dr Jaya, and assistant surgeon Dr T. Kujur, performed thoracotomy and laprotomy, i.e, chest and stomach surgery procedures, respectively, to remove the affected food pipe that normally measures 25cm.

“We removed the food pipe from the chest cavity and upper abdomen, and also removed the lymph nodes that were affected by cancer. Then we shaped the stomach into a tubular form to create a new food pipe,” explained Kumar.

Now, Shankar can eat normally, but he has to avoid heavy meals because the capacity of the stomach has been reduced. “He has been advised to eat smaller but frequent meals for six months by which time the stomach is likely to regain its capacity,” Kumar said.

Shankar said he was feeling well, so did his father and other family members.

“Such radical surgery is not usually possible because a patient suffering from food pipe cancer comes too late for treatment. But early detection, as in this case, can save many lives,” Kumar said.

Shankar and his family have been lucky on the expenses part too. “The total cost of such a surgery comes to approximately Rs 3 to 5 lakh in some major centres in the country, but we will charge Rs 1.25 lakh to 1.5 lakh,” Kumar added. In a day or two, Shankar will be discharged.