Omani kid undergoes keyhole surgery in Kerala

Trivandrum - Doctors at the Sunrise Hospital at the state's commercial hub of Cochin performed the rare keyhole surgery in a three-year-old girl.

A private hospital in the south Indian state of Kerala has successfully used endoscopic method to remove a branchial cleft cyst in the neck.
Doctors at the Sunrise Hospital at the state's commercial hub of Cochin performed the rare keyhole surgery in a three-year-old girl from Oman, who was suffering from the branchial cyst of second branchial cleft, a rare congential condition.
The swelling in her neck had grown in such a size that she was finding it difficult to bend the neck. The procedure was carried out through a 10mm cut in the axilla (armpit) and nearby two mm cuts. The entire swelling closely adherent to the main blood vessels and nerve to diaphragm was safely and completely removed in a two-year operation.
Dr R Padmakumar, senior consultant laparoscopic surgeon who led the team of surgeons, told Khaleej Times that this was the first time such a surgery was performed in a young kid in the world. Doctors in many hospitals in Oman and India, whom the parents of the girl approached, offered open surgery, he added.
The parents were not prepared for an open surgery as that would have left an aesthetically displeasing long cut across the neck of the girl. Dr Padmakumar said that the parents had approached the Sunrise hospital after hearing about the endoscopic method used by the hospital in removing thyroid.
The team's expertise in doing endoscopic thyrodectomies in more than 200 patients helped in successfully completing the surgery in the Omani girl.
"As there is no cut in the neck, the child revived fast and could go back to Oman in three days time", he said. Dr Padmakumar said hospitals across the world were not coming forward to employ endoscopic method though it has emerged as a safe surgical tool.
He said that the Sunrise Hospital was using this for conducting more than 90 per cent of the surgeries.
Sunrise has even set up a Minimally Invasive Surgery Institute for providing training to doctors, nurses and other para medics for upgrading their skills to perform keyhole surgeries.
Dr Padmakumar is the director of the institute.
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