An important therapeutic modality for solid tumours the department is abreast with recent advances and endoscopic interventions and robotic surgeries are routinely carried out.
The Surgical Oncology (SOG) Department currently comprises of 4 Professors, 4 Associate Professors and 10 Assistant Professors. Additionally, there are 15 M. Ch post graduate students, 1 Medical Officer, medical nurses, along with the para-medical and support staff.
The year 1954, marked the beginning of a Great Institution, the “Cancer Institute (WIA)”, Adyar. It also marked the beginning of the “Department of Surgical Oncology” which has been providing state of the art cancer care ever since. A few of the pioneering work done in the SOG Department over the past several decades have been highlighted below
A Live relay operative surgical workshop called ‘frontiers in surgical oncology’ was conducted for the first time in the country as early as 1984. This led to a series of similar workshops at various time intervals in the department. With the installation of the ND-YAG Surgical Laser in 1985, the Cancer Institute was the first centre in India to perform Endoscopic and open laser surgery. The first successful performance of “Limb Salvage Surgery” for Bony Sarcomas in the country was another notable surgical milestone of the Cancer Institute in 1988. This work was pioneered by Prof. Mayilvahanan Natarajan. The indigenisation of custom-made prosthesis has proved it to be cost-effective option for service-oriented organisations such as the Cancer Institute. The Cancer Institute was the only centre wherein Intra-operative Electron Therapy was first practiced in1992. D2 Gastrectomy which is today considered as a standard operation in the management of stomach cancers was practised in the Institute way back from 1992.
Over the past several decades the Institute and the Department of Surgical Oncology has been witnessing a steady increase in the number of patients being treated and followed up. In order to cope up with the increasing patient numbers and to meet up to the challenges of increasing Specialisation, the Department of Surgical Oncology has expanded its infrastructure and has also branched out into various Sub Specialities. This has resulted not only in imparting more specialised state of art high quality treatment to the patients, but also better delivery of cancer care.
The Neurosurgical oncology services were initiated under the department of surgical oncology in august 2018 with a view to complete the circle of care of patients diagnosed with cancers of brain and spine. Since initiation we have successfully performed more than 500 surgeries for tumors of brain and spine. Some of the tumors operated upon were gliomas, meningiomas, pituitary adenomas, metastatic brain tumors, acoustic schwannomas and brainstem gliomas in the brain and lymphomas, compression fractures, meningiomas, metastatic tumors and astrocytomas in the spinal cord. we are well equipped with the state-of-the-art equipment for performing these surgeries such as neurosurgical operating microscope with dual fluorescence, neurosurgical endoscope, intraoperative neuromonitoring equipment, neuronavigation and micro instruments for neurosurgery.
The Jasudben Chamanlal Kothari (Palanpur) Surgical Oncology Complex in the present Dr.SK campus was opened by Shri C. Subramaniam on 29th January 1982. It currently has 4 Major Operation theatres, a Minor OT, and a fully equipped State of art endoscopy suite. Additionally, the Block has 34 bedded postoperative ward, which included a 3 Intensive Care Unit beds. Due to the increasing clinical load, the SOG Department upgraded its infrastructure with the functioning of the four additional Major ‘State-of-Art’ Operation Theatres equipped with complete Instrumentation, a fully equipped ICU with 13 beds and a fully equipped Post-Operative Ward with 35 beds in the Diamond Jubilee Block, fully functional from September 2020 onwards. Further the scope of the Minimally Invasive Surgical services got a major impetus with the initiation of the Da Vinci Robotic system in January 2021.
The SOG department’s out-patient clinic caters to about 200 patients every day. All the treatment decisions are made through multispecialty boards and tumour boards. About 3000 major and 2500 minor surgeries are performed annually. The Department additionally performs around 5000 diagnostic and therapeutic endoscopic procedures annually. Oncological surgeries have traditionally been equated with radicalism and mutilation. However, over the years the paradigm in cancer surgery has been shifted on “Organ Preservation” and “Improving the Quality of Life” without compromising on the oncological principles. [read more] A better understanding of the tumour biology, advances in allied oncological specialties and the increasing use of minimally invasive surgeries has majorly contributed to this paradigm shift.
Specialized procedures like Minimally Invasive Laparoscopic and Thoracoscopic surgeries, Limb-salvage surgeries, isolated limb perfusion, sentinel node biopsies, cytoreductive surgeries with or without HIPEC, skull base surgeries, novel regional and microvascular reconstructions, parenchyma preserving lung resections and complex tracheal resections are routinely performed as indicated.
There has been a significant increase in the Clinical Research Activities of the Department. The growing number of the publications from the Department is a testimony for the same.
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The Department runs on M. Ch Surgical Oncology program with an intake of 5 Postgraduates per year, with a proposal to increase the same to 9 every year. More than100 M. Ch Surgical Oncologists have been trained and are in turn practicing Oncology across the country; some of them are heading departments and institutions in academic centres, training future Oncologists. [read more]
A 14-point comprehensive teaching program for the post-graduates is currently being practiced in the Department which includes, attending the multi-disciplinary tumor boards, didactic lectures, academic debates, interdisciplinary theory classes, clinico-pathological correlation, ward Rounds, three monthly CMEs, one day basic Laparoscopic training course, one day Advanced Laparoscopic training course, journal club among others. An added emphasis on the art of clinical practice is being additionally covered as a part of the teaching curriculum.
Additionally, the Department has an Observership program for trainees across various clinical specialities including Surgical Oncology, General Surgery, ENT, Maxillofacial Surgery, ENT, Urology and Orthopaedics.[/read]
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Please feel free to contact our friendly staff with any medical enquiry.