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~ Successfully removes cancer of hypopharynx and upper esophagus through complete minimally invasive techniques. ~

Mehta Multispecialty Hospitals India Pvt Ltd is widely recognized as a leading Healthcare provider in India with over 87 years of expertise and experience. We have helped heal consumers across generations and is the oldest and most experienced private hospital in India and top 30 on the planet. Dr Mehta’s Hospitals today has over 500 beds across our Multi-Specialty Tertiary Care Units in Chetpet and Velappanachavadi with over 80 Medical and Surgical specialties and 600 leading clinicians.

The specialist team from The Department of Surgical Gastroenterology, Gastrointestinal Oncology and Minimally Invasive Surgery at Dr Mehta’s Hospitals, a 200 bedded Multi-Specialty Tertiary Care Unit at Velappanchavadi, Chennai, successfully removed cancer in hypopharynx and upper esophagus through complete minimally invasive surgery. The surgery was performed in an effort to save the life of a 56-year-old gentleman from Sivaganga District, Tamil Nadu.

The highly committed medical team at Dr. Mehta’s Hospitals, comprising of Laparoscopic Cancer Surgeon & Surgical Gastroenterologist Dr Bala Murugan S., Anesthetist Dr Raj Kumar & Dr Thirumurugan and Oral Maxillofacial Surgeons swung into action for evaluation. The team performed Tamil Nadu’s 1^st complete Laparoscopic procedure to remove the throat cancer.

Speaking on the Laparoscopic Surgery, Dr Bala Murugan highlighted “The 56yrs old gentleman presented with complaints of difficulty in swallowing which was painful. Endoscopy revealed a growth in hypopharynx (throat) and upper esophagus (food pipe) which was biopsied and proved to be cancer. MRI neck, chest and abdomen confirmed the presence of cancerous growth spreading to larynx (voice box). As any delay in treatment would increase the cancer spread and also patient wanted immediate surgery, we promptly decided to go with surgical intervention. The proposed surgery was COMPLETELY THORACO LAPAROSCOPIC LARYNGO PHARYNGO ESOPHAGECTOMY WITH ENDOSTAPLED GASTRIC PULL UP. The surgery involved removing the pharynx (throat), larynx (voice box) and esophagus (food pipe) and a part of the stomach as enbloc removal of cancer.

In order to make patient eat normally through mouth, the stomach is brought to the floor of mouth and joined with it. This surgery was done in complete minimally invasive technique without laparotomy (abdomen opening) or thoracotomy (thorax opening) for the first time in Tamil Nadu by Dr Bala Murugan. The patient was in intensive care for immediate post-operative days and was discharged without any pain, complications and scars in abdomen. He is doing well now, completely eating normally through mouth and planned for chemotherapy.

Dr Mehta’s Hospitals Department of Surgical Gastroenterology, Gastro-Intestinal Oncology, Minimally Invasive Surgery is highly committed to providing and promoting, excellence in Gastroenterology and Gastro-intestinal cancer care. Ever since its inception, the group has strived to deliver the best and keep abreast with the most recent surgical advances in gastroenterology and cancer care.

Our surgeons and physicians are specially trained to trust Gastro intestinal benign disease and cancers with complete laparoscopic technique. The facilities have well-equipped operation theatres, excellent daycare facilities, laparoscopy and endoscopy facilities to ensure utmost care for your loved ones.

Expertise includes:

Advance laparoscopic cancer surgeries
Major thoracoscopic and laparoscopic esophageal and gastric surgeries
Single port cancer surgeries
Laparoscopic liver surgery
Laparoscopic pancreato Biliary Surgeries
Laparoscopic Colorectal Surgeries for cancer
Bariatric Surgeries for weight loss
Laparoscopic surgeries for hernias, gall bladder diseases, hiatus hernia and acute abdominal conditions like appendicitis, intestinal obstruction and trauma

Dr Mehta’s Hospitals Overview:

Mehta Multispecialty Hospitals India Pvt Ltd is widely recognized as a leading Healthcare provider in India with over 87 years of expertise and experience. We have helped heal consumers across generations and is the oldest and most experienced private hospital in India and top 30 on the planet.

Our focus on consumer health, safety and infection control has helped us deliver top clinical outcomes consistently and have helped heal over millions of our consumers across all age groups.

Dr. Mehta’s Hospitals is widely respected as among the safest and healthiest birthing locations in India having helped deliver over Million births. Our Pediatric specialty has been recognized by clinicians and consumers as a leader and Center of Excellence across India.

The Legacy

Founded in 1933, Dr. Mehta’s Hospitals has grown into one of the leading health care institutions in India. The humble roots started as a small nursing home in the locality of Sowcarpet in Madras.

Dr. Anantrai J Mehta, our founder had a vision to setup an institution that was open to all members of the Indian community that focused on consumer safety, affordability and affection in a pre -Independence era, joined by his wife Dr. Savitha Ben Mehta, a Gynecologist trained by leading British and Indian Gynecologists in 1940, relocated and expanded to a Multi-Specialty Surgical and Birthing unit in 1955 at Chetpet, Chennai.

Dr. Mehta’s Hospitals has been fondly remembered and respected as a pillar of Chennai’s healthcare, the Medical Capital of India. With a deep focus on community, consumer and clinical outcomes, Dr Mehta’s Hospitals has helped introduce generations of new beginnings into many vibrant families across India.

Our Multi-specialty units have expanded with the introductions and partnerships with many leading Clinicians like Dr. R. Shanmugasundaram- Father of Neonatology, Padmashree Dr. Ahmed Ali – Eminent Surgical Gastroenterologist, Dr. Nammalwar -Father of Pediatric Nephrology, Dr. Thangavelu- eminent pediatrician and Head of Pediatric center of excellence, Dr. Gnanabalan- eminent Pediatrician and Neonatologist, Dr. Usha Shukla – Renowned family physician and many more Clinical leaders.

Dr Mehta’s Hospitals – Today:

Dr Mehta’s Hospitals today has over 500 beds across our Multi-Specialty Tertiary Care Units in Chetpet and Velappanachavadi with over 80 Medical and Surgical specialties and 600 leading clinicians. Our units have helped deliver over 2 Million babies. We have been privileged to have served more than 20,000 families across 2 generations and more than 300 families across 3 generations. Mehta Multispecialty Hospitals India Pvt Ltd has successfully conducted over 2 million surgeries (including >100,000 complex surgeries) and 170s of successful Kidney transplants.

Media Contact: Ms Chitra G, Dr Mehta’s Hospitals @ 98844 56238

Doctor’s Profile:

Doctor’s Name: Dr.S.Bala Murugan

Qualification: MS., MRCS(UK), FIAGES.,MCh( SGE & GI Oncology), FMIS(Taiwan), Fellow in lap HPB Surg ( S. Korea)

Designation: Consultant- Surgical Gastroenterology & Gastro Intestinal Oncology

World-over, the mortality rates, compared to other age groups, have been higher among those above 60.

Very early into the COVID-19 pandemic, we were told by national and international bodies alike that senior citizens were among the groups more vulnerable to the disease than the rest of the population. The mortality rates, compared to other age groups, have also been higher among those above 60.

Months into the pandemic though, doctors have had more experience in treating patients, including seniors. TNM asked two doctors from Chennai on what some of their takeaways are.

What emerged was interesting — the professionals highlighted that it was not just medical care, but also emotional support that particularly helped seniors pull through, compared to younger patients. They also discussed the systems they put in place to monitor patients and ensure that the morale of their staff was boosted.

How COVID-19 affects senior citizens

Dr Sameer Mehta, Vice Chairman, Dr Mehta’s Hospitals in Chennai, says that in retrospect, he would divide the senior patients of COVID-19 into three categories: those who had serious COVID-19 along with co-morbidities, and had low survival rate; those who had serious COVID-19 but not co-morbidities or other affiliated factors; and those who were asymptomatic or had light symptoms.

“In the third category though, we noticed that if the disease worsens, the escalation happens very quickly,” Dr Mehta says. He adds that in the early days of the pandemic especially, senior citizens with COVID-19 would prefer to be treated at home. “However, if the disease escalated in them, the lung involvement is very high. And so, if the medication is given even 3-4 days later, the disease could have catastrophic results.”

In Dr Mehta’s experience, those who had pre-existing respiratory ailments, or those who had had a prior respiratory ailment were worse affected. In the latter situation, the lung capacity would have been affected or reduced, leading to more vulnerability.

However, Dr Rajendran Magesh, Consultant Geriatrician at Chennai’s Apollo Hospitals, says that the manifestation of COVID-19 would vary on a case-to-case basis. “We have seen people with 4-5 comorbidities getting discharged after 7-10 days, and also those who have just one condition like hypertension or diabetes but struggled a lot.” He added that the risk of severe COVID-19 may be higher for senior citizens with poorly controlled or uncontrolled diabetes.

“If we separate the senior patients into 60 to 75-year-olds and those above 75, the mortality was not very different,” Dr Rajendran adds.

Multidisciplinary approach

Dr Rajendran says that they also followed an interdisciplinary approach – consulting a pulmonologist, infectious diseases specialist, and intensive care staff, and other departments that helped ensure that all bases were covered with senior citizens. “The number of medical reviews that happened also helped. We reviewed each patient every day at least 4-5 times. We understood that the disease can change course unexpectedly, so frequent follow-ups helped,” he explains.

At Dr Mehta’s, the staff set up a system of staggered alarms to monitor the patients. This meant that multiple staff members monitoring a patient could set an alarm for a particular threshold in their health vitals. This removed the responsibility of monitoring from a single health worker, and different people could be alerted at different times. Further, staffers were also provided technology that allowed them to monitor the patient remotely, even from their own homes.

The hospital also constituted a team of clinicians and nurses to look through developing research and material on COVID-19 online. “This team read and filtered the data that was useful and passed it on to the doctors and those treating the patients, who may otherwise have not had the time to read through the sheer volume of information coming in,” Dr Sameer says.

Support beyond medical treatment

Both Dr Sameer and Dr Rajendran emphasised that for senior citizens, emotional support and helping them stay in touch with their loved ones played a key role in recovery and keeping their morale up.

“When you have COVID-19, unlike other illnesses, you cannot see loved ones because you have to be in isolation. That is really scary, especially for senior citizens. So we made sure that our patients, particularly those above 60, had access to Facetime, WhatsApp video calls and Skype to speak to their loved ones,” Dr Sameer says.

At Apollo too, Dr Rajendran says that the staff was trained to help the senior citizens do the same, because many of them are not comfortable with smartphones and are not tech-savvy. “The staff would also sit with them, help them eat and talk to them. These things really mattered.”

Dr Sameer adds that one of the biggest takeaways from this pandemic is that if the hospital staff is assured that they and their loves ones will be taken care of if they contract the virus – regardless of government assurances or policies to that effect – it increases their confidence in looking after patients by 3x-5x. “We told the staff that we had kept aside some of the drugs and some ICU beds for them or their family members. Once they were assured that they would be taken care of, their morale was up.”

The Vellapanchavadi campus of Dr Mehta’s Hospitals has a recovery and discharge percentage of 98.69% in senior citizens when it comes to COVID-19. Dr Rajendran says that in Chennai, Apollo Hospitals has a recovery and discharge rate of over 80%.– Click here.

Tamil Nadu’s first complete Laparoscopically successfully performed hypopharyngeal cancer surgery at Mehta Multispeciality Hospitals India Pvt Ltd, Global Campus, Velappanchavadi

Treating senior COVID-19 patients: Two Chennai docs on their learnings