IT News
Imphal, Oct 24:
On 19th October 2022, a team of doctors led by Dr. Ak. Ibohal Singh, Head of Department, Plastic & Reconstructive Surgery, RIMS Imphal, Dr. P. Manisana Singh, Dr. L. Loken Singh, Dr. Nehar Sinam, Dr. Manish Rajpurohit and Dr. Shishi Elangbam successfully operated and removed the tumor at newly constructed Modular Operation Theatre. The operation took 8 hours to complete. As there was a big tumor inside the oral cavity, administering anaesthesia was an equally daunting task. Prof. S. Sarat Singh, Dr. T. Hemjit Singh, Dr. M. Brajagopal Singh, Dr. I. Joyshankar, Dr. Anita Gurung performed endonasal intubation and monitored the patient minutely throughout the 8 hours of operation.
The patient was a 52 years old male, Yakub (name changed) hailing from Mantripukhri, Imphal has diagnosed a case of cancer of the inside of the left cheek (Buccal Mucosa, near the gingivobuccal sulcus), which was presumably a result of his age, old habit of chewing tobacco. After visiting a few doctors in the town, he was ultimately referred to the Department of Plastic Surgery, RIMS, Imphal. At the very first OPD visit, he was admitted to the recently inaugurated Burn Unit and worked up. His cancer had already encroached onto his lower gums, alveolar bone of the lower jaw bone (mandle), underlying cheek skin and the lymph nodes in the left side of the neck. But this didn’t discourage the reconstructive surgeons of RIMS Hospital to go ahead with the challenging operation. The left cheek, lower teeth on the left side, upper portion of the mandible and all the lymph nodes on the left side of the neck (Level 1 to IV) were removed. The through –and –through defect was reconstructed by a free radial artery forearm flap harvested from the no-dominant (left) forearm, fashioned into a bipaddle by folding onto itself, so as to recreate both the skin as well as mucosa. Later, the blood vessels of the flap were joined to those in the neck through a painstaking process of microvascular anantomosis.
The operation was also assisted by team of theatre nurses, namely A. Asha, Eloni Susan, H. Shoroshoti and T. Desikanta.