KATH PERFORMS FIRST LARYNGECTOMY AND NECK DISSECTION.

.The Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital(KATH) in Kumasi now has the expertise to perform total Laryngectomy - surgicalremoval of the voice box - following the successful operation on a 63-year oldman. This follows the return of Dr Anna Konney to the hospital, after herpost fellowship training experience in Head and Neck Surgery and Oncology inSouth Africa. Dr Konney led a team of Ear, Nose and Throat Surgeons to perform thefirst combined surgery of total laryngectomy and neck dissection at the hospital. The seven hour operation was performed on the 63-year-old man withlaryngeal cancer (Cancer of the voice box), which had spread to the right side ofthe neck. The patient is doing very well after the surgery and has since started adjuvantradiotherapy. Speaking to the Ghana News Agency, at Kumasi, after the surgery, DrKonney said data at the Head and Neck Oncology clinic at the hospital indicatesthat laryngeal cancer was the third commonest cancer in the total population ofpatients. Fifteen out of the 160 (9.4%) of patients who visited the clinic between2004 and 2006 were found to be suffering from the disease, majority of themmales. She said the disease which is supposed to be common among adultsbetween the ages of 60-62 was, however, being detected increasingly in patientsaround 50.3 years. Dr Konney said laryngeal cancer was 6-39 times more likely in smokersthan non-smokers. Alcohol abuse was also a risk factor and the combined risk ofsmoking and alcohol was even far greater. She said patients usually present late with hoarseness, difficulty inbreathing, swallowing and a swollen neck. Dr Konney explained that late presentation had made it difficult if not impossible for patients to benefit from existing management modalities, addingthat, palliative care procedures such as tracheostomy (creating an artificial openinginto the trachea), placing a tube in the stomach for feeding, radiotherapy and painmanagement had been usually offered to help patients. She revealed that patients often refuse total laryngectomy treatmentmainly because of the loss of the voice following the surgery and so, few cases oftotal laryngectomy had been done in the past. Dr Konney explained that surgical management when combined withother modalities of treatment such as chemotherapy and radiotherapy improvedsurvival rate and quality of life adding that, experts were now available at KATH tooffer hope for patients.
Source:GNA