Out of Body Operation
Reported December 01, 2008
MIAMI (Ivanhoe Newswire) — Every year, almost 1.5 million Americans hear the words, “you have cancer.” some are told their tumor is too difficult to remove, but one group of surgeons has opened a new door by taking the word inoperable out of the equation.
Brooke Zepp loves to travel. Last year, as she was planning a trip around the world, she got devastating news.
“I never dreamed I’d have cancer, and when they told me I had a mass, I said, ‘Okay, so just take it out,'” Zepp told Ivanhoe.
But taking it out could kill her. The tumor was buried in the vessels that bring blood to her abdominal organs. Doctors gave her six months to live.
“When they told me they couldn’t treat me, that was the worst moment of my life,” she recalled.
In her search for answers, Zepp found surgeon Tomoaki Kato, M.D., at the time a transplant surgeon at the University of Miami Hospital.
“The only treatment that can cure the tumor was to remove it,” Dr. Kato, now a transplant surgeon at Columbia University in New York, New York, explained
To get to Zepp’s tumor, he’d have to remove six of her organs. In a world’s first, Zepp’s stomach, pancreas, liver, spleen, small intestine and most of her large intestine were taken out simultaneously.
“She had nothing in her body,” Dr. Kato described. “It’s essentially organ-less.”
While Zepp’s organs were outside of her body, surgeons cut away the tumor and replaced her cancerous blood vessels with artificial ones. Zepp’s organs were put back in and reconnected.
“I think there’s a good chance this is a cure,” Dr. Kato said.
The surgery could have killed her, but the alternative wasn’t any better.
“I was desperate,” Zepp said. “I really wanted the surgery so badly.”
Today, Zepp is cancer-free.
“It makes me look at life in a very different way,” she said.
It’s been a slow recovery, but Zepp is back planning that trip around the world.
Zepp’s cancer was a rare type of sarcoma. Nine doctors worked on her body during the 15-hour procedure. Dr. Kato says this surgery should pave the way as a new treatment for not only the type of tumor Zepp had, but also other so-called inoperable tumors.
FOR MORE INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT:
Omar Montejo
University of Miami School of Medicine
(305) 243-5654
omontejo@miami.edu
Tomoaki Kato, MD
Columbia University Medical Center
(212) 305-0914
(212) 305-1305 (appointment line)
Tk2388@columbia.edu