A CORK hospital has become the first in the State to use a revolutionary form of minimally invasive surgery to treat locally advanced oesophageal cancer, resulting in faster recovery times and a better quality of life for patients afterwards.
The Mercy University Hospital (MUH) began using minimally invasive surgery to treat patients with oesophageal cancer in June and so far five patients have benefited from the introduction of the technique.
Surgeon Tom Murphy, who joined the staff at MUH in January, explained that the new technique marks a major advance in the standard of surgical care for oesophageal cancer patients.
“Traditional open Ivor-Lewis esophagectomy involves the surgeon making two large incisions – one on the abdomen and one on the right chest,” said Mr Murphy.
“The chest incision is normally 25-30cm in length, cuts through skin and muscle and involves the removal of part of a rib, so it has an enormous impact on the physical and mental wellbeing of the patient,” said Mr Murphy.
“The incisions are painful and require epidurals to control the pain in the days following surgery, and indeed post-surgery pain syndromes are common, leading to the use of pain medications for months after surgery.”
Mr Murphy, who trained under Dr James Luketich who pioneered the new surgical technique at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center in the US, explained that while the new surgical technique was essentially the same operation as the traditional open procedure, the fact that it could be done through smaller incisions brought significant benefits.
Instead of two major incisions, five small incisions of less than 1cm are made in the abdomen and the chest and the cancer specimen is removed through a 3cm incision in the chest, he explained.
“The advantages are very clear. Patients can be discharged earlier – usually eight days after surgery as opposed to 14-16 days with the traditional method – while there is less pain for the patients, so epidurals are not required post-surgery and they need less pain medication.
“The other advantages are that patients can get out of bed sooner to start their recovery and are at reduced risk of respiratory and wound complications.”
Ireland has the second highest incidence of oesophageal cancer in Europe. Those most at risk are men who are obese and suffer from chronic heartburn.
