Woman undergoes surgery for 5th time in 11 years to deal with complex recurrent cancer at SUM

Bhubaneswar: A 38-year-old woman from Boudh district, suffering from a complex type of cancer known as Retroperitoneal Liposarcoma, who underwent surgery for the fifth time at the Institute of Medical Sciences and SUM Hospital here recently, is recovering well.

Retroperitoneal Liposarcoma is known to be notoriously recurrent and cannot be treated with chemo or radiation therapy. The only way to deal with the disease is through surgery, Prof. (Dr.) Prakash Kumar Sahoo, Professor of Surgery in the hospital, said.

The patient has undergone treatment in IMS and SUM Hospital intermittently since 2012 where all her five surgeries were done, he said.

She had come to the hospital for the first time in August 2012 with a large abdominal swelling and pain. As a CT scan revealed that she was having a huge tumour, she underwent surgery for its removal. The tumour, weighing 15 kg, was removed from her abdomen and subsequent biopsy confirmed it to be a case of Retroperitoneal Liposarcoma, Prof. (Dr.) Sahoo said.

The patient returned to the hospital after four years in 2016 with the same complaint and a 10.5 kg tumour was removed. As the tumour was adhering to the uterus, the surgical team had to remove the uterus and ovaries as well.

She came for treatment for the third time in 2020 when a tumour weighing 7.5 kg had to be removed. The patient returned again in 2022 and underwent surgery for removal of another tumour weighing 5 kg, Prof. (Dr.) Sahoo, who led the surgical team, said.

“She came again after one year last month and yet another operation had to be done. This time, however, multiple tumours, though relatively smaller in size compared to the previous occasions, were found which were strewn around different places of the abdominal cavity,” he said adding the patient was kept in ICU for three days and was now ready to be discharged.

Besides Prof. (Dr.) Sahoo, the other members of the team included Dr. Suman Sourav Rout, Dr. Sagar Naik and Dr. Shlok Jaiswal. The anesthesia team comprised Prof. (Dr.) Saswat Patnaik, Prof. (Dr.) Soumya Samal and Dr. Sibasis Das while the OT staff members included Mr. Sangram Behera, Ms. Sagarika Jena and Ms. Manasi Ojha.

Prof. (Dr.) Satya Mohapatra of the Department of Radiology was instrumental in providing the accurate diagnosis of the medical condition of the patient through CT scan each time before surgery was done while the pathology team headed by Prof. (Dr.) Debahuti Mohapatra confirmed it as Retroperitoneal Liposarcoma after studying the biopsy report, Prof. (Dr.) Sahoo said while thanking the Dean of IMS and SUM Hospital Prof. (Dr.) Sanghamitra Mishra and Medical Superintendent Prof. (Dr.) Pusparaj Samantasinhar for their support.   

Mr. Girija Mohan Dani, husband of the patient, has thanked the hospital management and the medical team for successfully conducting the surgery every time at minimal cost. Prof. (Dr.) Sahoo said the patient was found to be very brave and mentally strong. “We found her to be an optimistic person and very positive about life,” he said.