Doctors in Bhopal Memorial Hospital & Research Centre (BMHRC) have successfully treated a 70-year-old Gas victim patient suffering from a rare disease ,gastric volvulus, where the stomach rotates on its axis and leads to gastric obstruction.
This complicated condition arose as her stomach moved upward into her chest due to hiatus hernia. Therefore whatever she ate or drank, was not able to pass through the oesophagus and she would vomit immediately. She reached the hospital just in time.
If she had been late, her stomach would have turned gangrenous and it could have been fatal for her. She underwent two laparoscopic surgeries simultaneously at BMHRC. The patient's condition is better and she has been discharged from the hospital. She is leading her normal life. Patient was treated free of cost.
Dr Pramod Verma, Associate Professor, Department of Gastro Surgery said, “gastric volvulus has an occurrence rate of 1 in 1 lakh cases . This is the first case of gastric volvulus to come to light in BMHRC .“Considering the condition of the patient, we decided to operate immediately. We repaired the hiatus hernia with gastropexy and de-twisted the stomach. To prevent the stomach from re-twisting, fundoplication was done and the stomach was fixed to the anterior abdominal wall via multiple trans-fascial sutures. For the surgery two incisions of 0.5 cm and one incision of 1 cm were made on the abdominal wall. Stomach rotates up to 180 degrees : Dr. Verma said that due to loosening of the diaphragm the stomach pushes up into the chest . This is called hiatus hernia. Gastric volvulus occurs mainly due to hiatus hernia. In gastric volvulus, the stomach rotates more than 180 degrees from its original position, due to which the process of digestion gets affected.
In very rare cases, it so happens that the stomach gets completely twisted. Challenging surgery considering the age of the patient :Dr Pramod Verma said that considering the age of the patient, it was not advisable to keep her unconscious for long. We couldn't even give pain killers for a long period. In these conditions, treating the patient laparoscopically was quite challenging.
Dr Manisha Srivastava, Director-in-charge, BMHRC Bhopal said, Gastric volvulus is a rare and life-threatening disease. The mortality rate due to this disease is high. Considering the woman's age, performing the surgery was even more challenging. The team of Gastro Surgeons has accomplished a difficult task.