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Surgeons at Saint Mary’s Health Care first
in Michigan to use procedure to remove tumor near heart
February 5, 2004, Grand Rapids, Mich.: A Grand Rapids-area
woman recently received an early Valentine’s Day gift,
when surgeons at Saint Mary’s Health Care used
highly advanced thorascopic surgery to remove a parathyroid
adenoma tumor located next to her heart.
The event marks the first time in Michigan that this type
of minimally invasive surgery involving small incisions in
the chest has been used to remove a parathyroid adenoma, which
is a benign tumor of the gland. Normally four parathyroid
are found in the neck. Together these glands help control
calcium metabolism. In the case of Vicki Shoemaker, the forth
parathyroid was missing making its location a mystery to the
surgeons.
The patient’s initial surgery resulted in a thyroid
lobectomy with hopes of locating the fourth parathyroid. When
not found in the thyroid, surgeons at Saint Mary’s used
nuclear medical tests, CT scan and GPS probe technologies
to quickly locate and confirm the identity of the adenoma.
The benign tumor was located in the patient’s chest,
next to the aorta and phenic nerve, which is very close to
the heart.
According to Dr. Oreste Romeo, lead assist during the operation,
newer technologies allowed surgeons to extract the adenoma
at minimum discomfort for the patient – and much closer
to home. “These advanced technologies at Saint Mary’s
are state-of-the-art and reflect today’s more desired
surgical approach,” said Romeo. “You have the
same outcome now in Grand Rapids as you would if you had this
procedure done in a larger city. The residents here look forward
to our rotations with these talented surgeons. In these complex
operations, we learn so much from their knowledge and experience.”
Headed by Dr. Shailen Patel, medical director of Thoracic
Surgery at Saint Mary’s, the surgical team made three
1.5 centimeter-sized incisions and used Video-Assisted Thorascopic
Surgery (VATS) to remove the tumor from the patient’s
upper chest. Instead of the normally required hospital stay
of up to seven days after chest surgery, the patient in this
case was in surgery within four days of diagnosis, and home
from the hospital within 48 hours.
Previously, standard surgery for this case would involve
a sternotomy to split open the chest – a painful procedure
that takes time to heal, leaves a large scar and can result
in higher risk of infection.
See the article in the Grand Rapids Press:
http://www.mlive.com/search/index.ssf?/base/news-12/107599783665370.xml?grpress?NEG |
