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Email this articleRare surgery removes 3-foot-long hair ball
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The health department of the Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) has claimed that the world's first laproscopic surgery - for the removal of a hair ball from the stomach and small intestine of a patient - has been performed at its Yeshwantrao Chavan Memorial Hospital (YCMH) in Pimpri. The surgery was successfully performed on a 14-year-old girl from Supa in Ahmednagar district on Tuesday.
Dr Mangesh Panse led a team of experts that included Dr Sanjay Devadhar, Dr Kiran Bhise, Dr Ashok Vatkar, Dr Jayant Mahajan, Dr Sanjay Padale, Dr Mandar Doiphode, Dr P V Kulkarni, Dr Rajesh Gore and Dr Andurkar in the operating room.
Dr Panse said Shilpa Pandhare (name changed) was brought to YCMH on July 14. "The girl was complaining of constant stomach pain and unable to eat anything for a month," Dr Panse said. "Through gastroscopy, it was confirmed she was suffering from trichobezoar."
Trichobezoar is an illness diagnosed for those who eat their own hair. The laproscopic technique - also known as minimal access surgery - helps in taking smaller incision and avoids complications in the future. Dr Panse said with a three-inch incision, the ball of hair weighing 500 grams and three feet long was removed from Pandhare's stomach and small intestine with the help of the laproscopic technique. Pandhare, who will be discharged soon, said she ate her own hair when she was young.
Pandhare's father, Shraparao, said they had taken the girl to at least eight doctors. "We even got a CT scan done. Every doctor concluded my daughter was fine. But she was complaining of stomach pain for a year. So we brought her to YCMH," he said.
PCMC health chief Dr Nagkumar Kunachgi said there was no mention of such a surgery in Indian medical history. After researching on the internet, Dr Panse himself confirmed it hadn't been carried out anywhere in the world. Dr Sanjay Devadhar, who was part of the operating team, said he had presented a paper at a conference in Thailand on an open surgery he had performed for the removal of a ball of hair from the stomach and intestines. "There was no mention of the use of 'laproscopic technique' for trichobezoar in the conference," he said.
Source: Indian Express via Yahoo! India NewsAll rights reserved.