Post radiation bowel perforation

At times treating a patient of cancer in abdomen can be a nightmare for the surgeon. Multiple operations and radiations performed as a treatment for cancer changes the anatomy and physiology of abdomen. Now in this situation if a patient comes with a perforation in the bowel becomes a tough challenge to the surgeon.

I recently has to operate such patient. He has sever pain and his bowel had perforated due to radiation effect.There was no virgin area left due to multiple operations. I had to find a relatively safer place to enter my thin laparoscope for visualization of inside mystery. Gradually I explored his abdomen and located the perforation. I made a small incision on his skin to deliver the diseased bowel out. I sutured the hole in the small intestine and placed it back.

This way a major opening up was avoided. The patient’s sister who happened to be a doctor was very happy that I could solve the problem with minimal cutting. The recovery was uneventful and patient resumed his previous lifestyle very quickly. This was his quickest recovery compared to all his multiple previous surgeries.

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