Jaipur, 20 April : Cancer was earlier known as one of the deadliest diseases around the world, but with the advancements in technologies and better healthcare facilities, most cancers have been made treatable in the last few decades. Fortis Escorts Hospital, Jaipur under Dr Sundeep Jain, Director and Head, Department of Gastrointestinal, Gastrointestinal Oncology, Hepato-Pancreato-Biliary, Bariatric and Minimal Access Surgery, is treating abdominal cancer patients with rare Cytoreductive surgery (CRS) and Hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy (HIPEC) technique. He is one of the finest gastro surgeons and also the only one in Rajasthan, who started performing the technique in 2014. Dr Jain has treated 20 patients so far with this technique, he has not just performed surgeries on patients suffering from indications such as cancer colon and rectum with peritoneal metastases, but has also treated patients with appendiceal cancer, pseudomyxomaperitonei and gastric cancer with peritoneal metastases. This has only been possible with the support of the team of GI anesthesia, Additional Director, Dr Akhil Agarwal, Senior Consultant Dr Anjali Nigam and General Surgeon Dr Aditya Agarwal.
CRS is a complex operation in which doctors remove all visible tumors within the abdomen. Immediately following surgery, doctors deliver heated chemotherapy solution (HIPEC) directly into the abdomen to kill any remaining tumor cells.
Talking about the process, Dr Sundeep Jain, Director and Head, Department of Gastrointestinal, Gastrointestinal Oncology, Hepato-Pancreato-Biliary, Bariatricand Minimal Access Surgery, Fortis Hospital, Jaipur said, "This operation involves a major resection of all the peritoneal layers followed by 90 minutes of chemotherapy, circulated through the peritoneal cavity at 43-45 ° Celsius. The medicine, therefore, reaches all the cancer cells present inside the stomach to destroy them. Chemotherapy drugs are also injected directly in the blood during the operation."
According to Dr Jain, this is the only technique that keeps the patients alive and cancer-free for a long time. "The success rate of this technique is 95 per cent which is quite good as compared to the deaths caused by cancer every year. The survival benefit after this treatment is around 5 years in 30-40 per cent patients, which otherwise is only for a few months," asserted Dr Jain.
Dr Mala Airun, Director, Medical Operations at Fortis hospital, Jaipur said, “Here at Fortis, our main motto has been to keep improvising and working on the technological advancements, in order to provide better healthcare facilities to the patients. We are proud to share that our surgeons under Dr Sundeep Jain have been successful in providing the right treatment along with the right technology. We will continue to provide best patient outcomes with top-notch and advanced technologies.”
