About the Department:
The Department of GI-HPB surgery is one of the six units of the larger Division of
Surgical Oncology in this tertiary care oncology hospital of Eastern India. As it steps in to its second decade, the unit boasts of a cohesive team of five full time Consultant Surgeons and six Fellows delivering high quality surgical service. In order to offer specialised surgical care, the unit is functionally divided in to three sub-specialities:
(1) Upper gastrointestinal, thoracic and peritoneal surface oncology
(2) Hepato-pancreatico-biliary surgery
(3) Colorectal surgery
The unit performs the entire gamut of operations for cancer of the GI tract and HPB organs: oesophagectomy, gastrectomy, pancreaticoduodenectomy, hepatectomy, radical cholecystectomy, colectomies and rectal resections etc. These cancers often spread to the peritoneum, the lining of the abdominal cavity, thereby precluding the possibility of being cured. But in selected patients cytoreductive surgery with hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy (HIPEC) may be performed with curative intent: the surgical unit has considerable expertise in this area. While a large number of surgeries for colon and rectal cancer are performed by laparoscopic (key-hole) technique, the Da Vinci robot will be increasingly used in the future. It also boasts of using the CUSA routinely for liver operations. In addition surgery for lung and mediastinal cancers are also performed. The unit is also preparing to start liver transplantation programme for primary cancers of the liver.
Our instituition has pioneered the multi-disciplinary management of GI cancers in this part of the country with disease management groups (DMGs) and multi-disciplinary teams (MDTs). The use of neoadjuvant treatments, where appropriate, as determined by our multi-discplinary teams, continue to improve patient outcomes.
Based on the data of 2019, the approximate number of operations performed in a calendar year is: oesophagectomy (30), lung resections (35), gastrectomy (70), Whipple operations (35), hepatectomy (30), colectomy (100), rectal resections (80) and HIPEC (15).
