Unique surgery
For the first time in medical practice pancreatomy is no threat to patient’s life
When Roman Zimenko’s daughter was going into first grade, her father was not at home: he was having a pancreatomy, an operation to remove the pancreas. The surgery was a success. Physicians say that patients seldom survive the removal of this organ, so everyone agrees that the Zimenko case is unique. The patient is now undergoing a course of rehabilitative treatment that will last more than a year. In his 30 years of practice, Dr. Volodymyr Skyba, who works at the First Municipal Clinical Hospital in Kyiv, has had only two patients that survived this complicated surgery and Zimenko is one of them. The whole pancreas is surgically removed only when it is completely “cooked,” to use medical parlance.
SAVED BY HIS WILL TO LIVE
The 30-year-old Zimenko had a sudden onset of symptoms. First he experienced a sharp pain; then he developed a fever. His diagnosis was disheartening: acute pancreatitis. His doctors believed the only way to save his life was by completely removing his pancreas. Now, after undergoing seven complicated operations, Zimenko is gradually getting back his health. What worries his doctors is the possibility that he will develop diabetes mellitus, a post-surgical complication in 80 percent of cases.
“I’m feeling much better after the operation. I no longer feel that sharp pain in the sides and my chest, and my temperature is finally back to normal after the two months of operations. I’m now in the convalescent phase, but no one knows how long it will take. I’m grateful to the medical team that saved my life. Since it is very important to choose the right kind of treatment and time, I believe I owe my life to the doctors’ intuition,” Zimenko said.
Dr. Skyba, who performed the most important operation out of the seven, insists that 50 percent of the success of any operation depends on the patient. No matter how much skill and time a surgeon has, a patient can only survive if s/he really wants to. The ancient philosophers said that both physician and patient must share a will to live. This is precisely what happened in Zimenko’s case.
RARE PHENOMENON IN SURGERY
In medical practice, operations to remove malignant tumors from internal organs are done much more often than operations on patients with acute pancreatitis. Dr. Skyba says pancreatic disorders typically affect Slavs. For the time being no clinic in the world can solve this problem. “Most often acute pancreatitis is found in patients who abuse alcohol and eat poor-quality or fatty foods, or those who have gallbladder stones. In 20 percent of such cases it is impossible to determine the causes of the disease. In most acute pancreatitic cases, removing part of the pancreas is the only effective remedy. Surgeons leave 40-50 percent of the gland, which is enough for it to keep functioning. If the entire pancreas is removed, its functions must be taken over by other internal organs, e.g., the liver, kidneys. People who abuse alcohol and eat fatty foods have sick livers and kidneys, so these organs cannot function normally, let alone take over the job of the pancreas. Therefore, most operations to remove the pancreas have lethal consequences.”
Dr. Skyba says that over the past 30 years the high mortality rate in acute pancreatic cases has ranged between 40 and 80 percent. Despite new treatment methods and modern equipment, there has been little progress in combating this disease. A number of physicians are returning to the old methods of treating this disease, which is not improving the results of surgical treatment.
WE GET SICK BECAUSE OF IMPROPER NUTRITION
Acute pancreatitis is now the second most common abdominal disease requiring surgery. According to some data, it is the leading disease, having displaced appendicitis. Dr. Skyba attributes this to a change in the social status of the disease. It used to be that cholecystitis was rarely seen in medical practice. Today practically every Kyiv clinic sees 200-300 cases a year.
Dr. Skyba believes the disease has nothing to do with the worsening of Ukraine’s ecological situation, as experts most often claim. In his opinion, the main reason for abdominal disorders is Ukrainians’ poor nutrition. “One of the immediate causes of this disease is a diet that consists of spicy and salty foods. Fatty foods — particularly salo (fatback), which is so popular with Ukrainians and often washed down with beer or stronger drinks — have disastrous effects on people’s health. These kinds of foods do not suit the human body. Every clinic in Ukraine has patients who have had operations precisely because they consume fatty foods and alcohol. Such patients are often found in intensive care units because they display alcoholic and pancreatic psychoses. Unless they are isolated from the outer world during the initial treatment phase, they may harm themselves and other people because they can’t control their behavior.”
Physicians recommend sticking to a rational and balanced diet, which will help you to avoid serious diseases.
