Radio device saves 57-yr-old patient’s life

Fifty-seven-year-old Rajesh Nair (name changed) had been diagnosed with a cancerous tumour in his liver, which needed to be removed with a liver resection surgery.

Fifty-seven-year-old Rajesh Nair (name changed) had been diagnosed with a cancerous tumour in his liver, which needed to be removed with a liver resection surgery.

HT Image

But the procedure wasn’t easy, as Nair had undergone a coronary angioplasty last year after a heart attack.

He was also diabetic, had suffered kidney failure and was on dialysis since last year, which meant he couldn’t afford to lose too much blood during surgery.

So doctors at the Fortis Hospital, Mulund, decided to use a radio-frequency ablation device (RFAD) — also known as the Habib Sealer device —to help minimise blood loss during the liver resection surgery.

The device was first developed by liver cancer surgeon Dr Nagy Habib of the Imperial College, London, and launched at the Hammersmith Hospital, United Kingdom in 2005.

“It directs radio frequency waves at blood vessels and coagulates them during surgery. This helps in minimising blood loss while the tumour is being removed. I also feel that the device could be used by trauma surgeons to help control bleeding during emergency surgery,” said Dr Habib.

He was part of the team that operated on Rajesh Nair on Monday. Usually, blood loss during a liver resection surgery could be up to 500 ml, which is considerable, according to Dr S.K. Mathur, liver transplant surgeon, Fortis Hospital.

“But because we used the RFAD, the blood loss during the three-hour procedure was just 100 ml. The patient is recovering well,” Dr Habib said.