Media Release

Mangaluru, Feb 8: A 14-year girl was referred to the department of Pediatric Surgery at Justice K S Hegde Hospital with stomach pain. She was evaluated by a multidisciplinary team involving paediatric surgeon, paediatrics and surgical gastroenterology. She was diagnosed to have a large tumor arising from the liver (caudate lobe).

There is a high risk of rupture and uncontrollable bleeding in such large liver tumors if not treated on time. Open surgery for removal of the tumor is associated with significant surgical complication as the tumor is located near major blood vessels like vena cava which could lead to excessive bleeding during surgery.

Hence the pediatric surgery team along with surgical gastroenterologists team made an informed decision to conduct a robotic assisted liver resection surgery. The operation was challenging and took 11 hours and was done under the guidance of a proctor, Dr Kalayarasan Raja, a renowned surgical gastroenterologist from JIPMER, Pondicherry. Anaesthesia for such cases is challenging due to the possibility of drop in blood pressure and excessive blood loss which was efficiently managed by the expert anaesthesia team.

The patient had an uneventful and smooth post-operative recovery under the care of the Pediatricians and Pediatric ICU staff. She completely recovered and was discharged on the 5th day of surgery to resume her normal activities. According to hospital sources this is the first paediatric robotic surgery done for such a complex liver tumor in coastal Karnataka.

Over 170 complex robotic assisted surgeries have been successfully performed over the last one year at K S Hegde Medical Academy. Robotic surgery helps in performing major liver, pancreatic, gastrointestinal, urological, gynaec and cancer surgeries with greater precision leading to faster patient recovery and less pain than conventional surgery.

The patient came from a low socioeconomic background and this surgery was made possible by the support and encouragement from the institution and the Nitte management.