AIIMS-Bhubaneswar doctors save throat cancer patient with rare surgery

In a first-of-its-kind surgery in Odisha, doctors at AIIMS-Bhubaneswar performed a successful operation on a woman who was suffering from a rare variety of larynx cancer.

The 25-year-old woman from Jagatsinghpur district was found to be suffering from an advanced stage of adenoid cystic carcinoma. It was located at the junction of windpipe and food pipe resulting in extreme difficulty for the woman to swallow and breathe.

The cause of ACC is a rare malignancy arising from the secretory glands, usually involving the salivary glands. The patient had consulted at several hospitals for a year and finally she reached AIIMS-Bhubaneswar. With no other option left, a team of 10 AIIMS doctors from ENT and surgical gastroenterology decided to operate on her.

The procedure was challenging and took 14 hours to complete. The ENT surgeon removed the pharynx, larynx, trachea or the upper part of the windpipe and part of the thyroid gland while the gastro surgeon dissected the colon and passed it into the neck, thereby connecting the base of the tongue with the stomach. They created a new food channel.

Following the operation, the patient was managed in the ICU post-surgery section and after two months was doing well. As per Dr. Dilip Kumar Samal, Associate Professor of ENT, both her breathing and food intake was normal.

The team of surgeons included Dr. Tanmay Dutta, Assistant Professor Surgical Gastroenterology, Dr. Ajitesh Sahu, Asst Prof (Anaesthesia) and Dr. Pradipta Kumar Parida, head of ENT department.