26 years old p. Mahalakshmi was suffering from severe back pain for six months. He sought medical help near his residence at Paunjur in Chengalpattu district.
He resigned from his job as a machine operator in a private firm because the pain was excruciating. Her husband is an agricultural laborer. When the drugs did not help, a biopsy was performed and it revealed a cancerous tumor that had developed into the kidney and intestine. She was administered concurrent chemotherapy and radiation from August to December 2020 without relief. “The doctors there sent me to the Cancer Institute in Chennai for treatment,” said the mother of two.
She managed to come to the institute in mid-January and investigations revealed that she was suffering from chondrosarcoma.
“He had increased the pain and was unable to walk. The tumor was attacking the L3 vertebrae. It spread to the kidneys, intestine, duodenum, inferior vena cava and colon. We did the sagitel en block spondyllectomy, ”said the consultant Eurosurgeon to Anand Raja, who led a team of seven doctors who were working on it.
Doctors have long discussed the surgery done earlier this month. Since only half of the spinal cord was affected, a third of the vertebrae were preserved to ensure stability of the spine, he said.
“Chondrosarcoma arises from bone. The tumor was a massive mass and developed from the L3 vertebrae and spread through the abdomen. This included blood vessels, intestines, right ureters, and kidneys. One affected kidney had to be removed, ”Dr. The king said.
“We explained to the patient the risks involved in the surgery because the vertebrae would be exposed and injury to the nerves could lead to loss of movement,” he said. “The patient was highly motivated and gave us the confidence to move forward.”
Kalpana Balakrishnan, head of anesthesia, said that the 17-hour surgery started at 9 am and ended at around 1.30 pm the next day. The patient had excessive blood loss during surgery and was on ventilator support for a day. Five days after surgery, he was provided with physiotherapy. “She has recovered completely. The biopsy results show that all margins of probability of recurrence are low, ”he said.
Ms. Mahalakshmi is able to walk and is not on medication.
Arvind Kishanmurthy, head of surgical oncology, said that bone cancer was a form of solid cancer. Condrosarcoma does not respond to chemotherapy and radiation.
“It is a rare cancer because the cancer usually spreads from other organs to the bones. We have tried our best to remove the tumor. The message is that surgery, although chronic, is still the gold standard for this type of cancer, ”he said.
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