HY 01/07: Advances in Surgery | Lehigh Valley Hospital

The latest techniques give new hope to thousands

New techniques keep emerging to help surgeons do their job better. These advances save more lives, relieve more pain, and make recovery faster and easier than ever before. Here’s a sampling of what’s new at Lehigh Valley Hospital and Health Network.

Double kidney transplant

After two years on the waiting list, Judith Atiyeh, 63, of Allentown was surprised to learn her kidney donor would be a 2-year-old child who had died of an injury the day before. Since the kidneys were less than half of adult size and weight, Atiyeh would need both organs to accomplish the kidneys’ blood-purifying function. No one in the Lehigh Valley had ever had this “en bloc” kidney transplant before.

“The kidneys came to our transplant center with the main artery and vein connected to both organs, so they could be inserted as one unit,” says transplant surgeon Pradip Chakrabarti, M.D. “They grow to adult size in six to eight months.”

Chakrabarti performed the challenging surgery in July, and Atiyeh is already anticipating a trip to Florida to visit her brother—something she couldn’t do while on dialysis three times a week. She’s also eating tomato sandwiches, a treat she had to forego for the past three years because her ailing kidneys couldn’t handle the high potassium in tomatoes. “I have a chance to live again,” she says. “This is an incredible gift. I’m very fortunate.”

Laparoscopic cancer surgery

Diagnosed with a cancerous tumor on her rectum, Sherri Gallo, 43, of Easton needed surgery to cut out the tumor, remove 18 inches of intestine and create an artificial opening, or colostomy.

Traditionally, surgeons make an 8- to 10-inch incision in the abdomen, leaving a long scar and requiring most patients to wait several days before eating solid foods. In Gallo’s case, colon-rectal surgeon Roberto Bergamaschi, M.D., performed the surgery laparoscopically. Through five small incisions in her abdomen (including one in the navel), he inserted specialized viewing and surgical instruments.

“There is less blood loss, minimal pain after surgery and a quick return to normal activities with this technique,” Bergamaschi says. He even made sure the incisions were small and low, so Gallo could wear a two-piece bathing suit. Just a day after the two-hour procedure, she was up walking and eating.

Quick updates

A groundbreaking cancer treatment—Isolated limb infusion offers new hope for people with certain skin cancers (recurrent melanoma or soft tissue sarcoma) on an arm or leg. The procedure pumps blood out of the limb, heats it, then returns it with chemotherapy drugs, boosting the drugs’ effectiveness and limiting the exposure only to the affected limb.

A new option for diseased discs—For people suffering the pain of worn-out cervical (neck) discs, the only option used to be fusing the vertebrae. But fusion limited flexibility in the neck. Now, spine surgeons are using artificial discs to relieve pain and restore mobility.

Want to Know More? Watch for a story on the new skin cancer treatment in the next Healthy You. To learn more about laparoscopic surgery, click on the link in the column on the right side of this page.