Pregnant Woman Undergoes Rare Surgery After Being Diagnosed With Pancreatic Cancer

Doctors in India have successfully performed a rare and complex surgery on a six months pregnant woman, who had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer

The procedure took place at the Fortis Hospital in the capital city of New Delhi. Doctors at the facility said Thursday they had successfully performed the Whipple surgery on the pregnant woman – a first for the country and one of the few conducted across the world, IANS reported.

Dr Amit Javed, director of Gastrointestinal Oncology at Fortis Hospital, said the woman from Afghanistan was five and a half months pregnant when she was diagnosed with the cancer. It was difficult to diagnose the cause for her discomfort as the symptoms were common in pregnancy. The woman had complained of abdominal discomfort, nausea and vomiting.

Pancreatic cancer can be diagnosed with the help of a CT scan of the abdomen. However, this has to be avoided in cases of pregnancy as it is harmful to the foetus.

"Advanced pregnancy made the surgery challenging. In addition, she could not undergo chemotherapy on account of her pregnancy," the hospital said in a statement cited by NDTV.

The surgery in this situation was complex as it posed risk of life for both the mother and the baby.

"This was a major operation which required us to adopt a multi-disciplinary approach. Advanced ICU capabilities, post-operative care units and high-level anaesthesia teams were all working in sync. The surgery took four hours," Dr. Javed was quoted as saying by the Press Trust of India, according to Tribune India.

"We were able to perform it without 'moving the baby', and the post-operative tests showed complete tumour removal and a healthy baby," he added.

In normal cases, cancers in the body or on the tail of the pancreas are removed by a distal pancreatectomy. However, those developing at the head of the pancreas or arising from the lower bile duct, ampulla and second part of duodenum, are removed by a pancreaticoduodenectomy (also called a Whipple procedure). However, in this case, the cancerous area (in the pancreas) and the uterus were very close to one another, the doctors said.

“For the first time in India, a pregnant patient has undergone Whipple surgery successfully, and we are extremely proud of our doctors for the same,” Dr. Javed said.