Sunday, March 16, 2008

Is colon cancer surgery risky in a 71 year old with heart problems

Is colon cancer surgery risky in a 71 year old with heart problems?

Cancer - 3 Answers
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1 :
Surgery is always a risk,with or without heart problems. This person's doctors (cardiologist and surgeon) will need to speak with one another before the patient undergoes surgery. The doctor who handles the anesthesia will need to know the patient's medical history and what kind of heart condition it is so the balance of medications to put someone under is just right. If the person isn't strong enough to have the surgery, the doctor will say so. If it's a matter of life and death it may be a risk worth taking.
2 :
The patient should have his medical condition, treatment options, and associated risks explained prior to any major procedure. Surgery is a risk for all people, a greater risk for seriously ill people, and that risk is aggravated by complicating factors such as heart disease. The doctor's treatment plan must balance the potential benefits of the surgery versus the surgery's risks versus the prognosis if surgery is not performed. Generally speaking, the best way to eradicate cancer is through surgery. Chemotherapy may be effective, partially effective, or ineffective. Radiation is typically effective for localized treatment, but may produce significant side-effects. Best wishes for agood outcome.
3 :
It doesn't have any more risk than any other surgery for a patient with those conditions. What they will do is called a resectioning. They will remove a part of the colon, depending on where the cancer is (the colon is about 4' long, and you can survive without any colon at all). There are 3 different ways this can be done: manually, by laproscopy (a machine that is used to work beneath the skin, and the surgeon uses a bendable light to guide it), or by hand-assisted laproscopy (the newest type that is supposed to be cutting edge, and the easiest to recover from). Mine was through hand-assisted laproscopy, where they cut about a 5" vertical incision plus 4 small holes where the laproscopy goes, then the surgeon puts his hand through the incision to guide the laproscope--they realized that they had to cut an incision to fit the laproscope in anyway, and it would be smaller for hand assisted). You will usually be in the hospital for anywhere from 3 days to 2 weeks, and they will give you a morphine drip to ease the pain. I never felt pain in the abdomin, only at the incision site. Afterward, there will be pain at the incision point for a week or so. They will use dissolvable stitches on the colon, and either stitches or staples on the incision. You'll need to learn to get up and moving ASAP to prevent blood clots--I was walking the next day. The only really painful part for me was trying to move back and forth in bed. Good Luck!

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