“I’m glad I had a good anesthesiologist.” Brooke Zepp, a 63-year-old cancer patient from Pompano Beach, Florida, is also glad to have had such an outstanding team of transplant surgeons, too.

At a press conference on Monday, Zepp and her team of doctors described the dramatic surgery she underwent on March 4 in an heroic effort to save her life from a rare, malignant cancerous tumor that was located in such a precarious position that it seemed to be operable. The transplant team, led by Dr. Tomoaki Kato, thought there might be a way although it was a way that had never been tried before.

Zepp’s tumor was deep inside her abdomen, dangerously near her abdominal aorta and entwined with some of the blood vessels there. In most cases of abdominal tumors, organs can be lifted or moved aside to allow access to the tumor. In Zepp’s case, there were too many organs in the way for surgeons to gain enough free access to safely remove the tumor and repair the blood vessel damage as well.

Instead, they entirely removed six major organs from her abdominal cavity, basically clearing it out completely, in order to get to the tumor and blood vessels. For about 90 minutes, Zepp’s liver, spleen, pancreas, stomach, small intestine, and most of her large intestine were held in a square metal pan, about the size of a turkey roasting pan, filled with cool water while the surgeons successfully removed the tumor and repaired the damaged blood vessels with Gore-Tex tubes.

With a videotape of the entire surgical procedure playing in the background, Dr. Kato described the details of the surgery and expressed hope that other patients with cancer, aneurysms, and other medical issues involving the abdominal aorta might enjoy the same degree of success with similar surgeries as Zepp is enjoying.

Zepp, a real estate agent, says she feels as if she’s been through a tunnel and has her whole life ahead. She also tearfully expressed awe and gratitude when viewing her organs in the soupy mix filling the metal pan beside the operating table.

Dr. Kato credits the long and successful transplant history at the hospital, the University of Miami/Jackson Memorial Medical Center, for the expertise of the surgical team and their ever-expanding understanding of how to work with organs outside the body.

Dr. Andreas Tzakis described the tumor as not especially large but very strategically placed instead. Tzakis, a member of the transplant team, serves as director for the medical center’s Transplant Institute.

Called a surgical “tour de force” by Dr. Michael J. Reardon, an uninvolved transplant surgeon from Houston, the surgery involved more than nine doctors and 15 grueling hours. And not one, but two, very good anesthesiologists.

Source: New York Times