Chandigarh
16 July 2020
DIVYA AZAD
A team of doctors at Fortis Hospital, Mohali performed a unique and complex COMMANDO surgery to treat an advanced malignant tumour inside the mouth of a patient here recently. After careful examination and prognostication, the patient was taken up for COMMANDO surgery; i.e. Combined Mandibulectomy and Neck Dissection Operation. This complex procedure was successfully conducted by Dr (Brig) Rajnish Talwar, Additional Director, Surgical Oncology at Fortis Hospital, Mohali.
Mewa Singh – the 85 years old from Karnal – had complaints of a non-healing wound under his tongue with a swelling in his neck. He was carefully examined by Dr (Brig) Talwar who concluded that the condition of the patient was progressively worsening and that he needed immediate attention. After careful deliberations and discussions in the Tumour Board, a detailed treatment plan was drawn starting with Commando surgery. Commando surgery is a complex operation carried out to treat loco-regionally advanced malignancy of the oral cavity. In this case It comprised of a glossectomy (total removal of the involved tongue), mandibulectomy (removal of the involved jaw), block dissection of all the neck nodes with necessary repair of the surgical defect in a way that it ensures restoration of patients functional abilities and looks back to near normal. The operation is so named because of its complexity and extensive nature.
Speaking about the application of the procedure in this case, Dr (Brig) Rajnish Talwar said, “Upon prognostication we learned that the disease had disseminated from his tongue over to his neck which aroused my suspicion of a progressively worsening situation. Any Cancer can prove fatal for the patient if left untreated. In this particular case, the patient was an octogenarian who had reached me having wasted more than 3 months looking for the right place and surgeon to operate upon his cancer. Hence, we at Fortis Hospital Mohali performed the surgery within a week of his reporting at our OPD. His surgery went off well. His post operative recovery was quick and painfree, and he had near normal speech and no disfiguring scars. He was on oral diet from the first day post-operative and was discharged within five days.”
Mr Mewa Singh says, “I have been suffering on account of a very painful boil on the side of my neck, which was subsequently diagnosed as cancer of the tongue and neck. Thanks to the efforts of Dr. Talwar and his team at Fortis Hospital, Mohali, now I am living a pain-free, stress-free life.”
