Landmark kidney surgeries

A successful Laparoscopic Partial Nephrectomy (the removal of a part of the kidney, through a key-hole surgery) was conducted at Brown's Hospital Ragama, recently.

The patient, a resident of Vavuniya, was diagnosed with a cancer in his kidneys, which required immediate surgery and was referred to Brown's Hospital.

This complex, advanced renal surgery, a medical breakthrough for the Private Healthcare industry in Sri Lanka, was performed by Consultant Urological Surgeon, Dr. Aruna Nandasena along with Dr. Randima Nanayakkara-Consultant Oncosurgeon, Teaching Hospital Anuradhapura and Dr. Sagarika Ranasinghe-Consultant Anaesthetist, Teaching Hospital Ragama. The surgery lasted under 4 hours, performed at the Browns Hospital Ragama, equipped with state-of-the-art facilities.

Though a novel procedure for Sri Lanka, Dr. Nandasena has had in-depth experience in performing Laparoscopic surgeries, while in the UK.

"This type of surgery provides patients with a safe and effective way to remove a renal cancer, while preserving the remainder of the kidney. It is minimally invasive, and provides patients with less discomfort and positive results when compared to the traditional open surgery," Dr. Nandasena said.

Compared to traditional open surgery where the patient is left with a large scar and longer healing and resting time, laparoscopic procedures are done through very small incisions that heal with hardly a visible scar. Laparoscopic surgeries require very little post-operative hospital care and enables the patient to gain normalcy a lot earlier.

The surgery team wishes to extend their gratitude to Dr. Priyanthi Rathnayake, Dr. Shirom Rajeev, Dr. Anwer Sadath and Dr. Thushara Sooriyarachi who assisted to prepare the patient pre and post-surgery.