KATH UNDERTAKES MAIDEN THROAT CANCER OPERATION (PAGE 29)

the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH) in Kumasi has performed its first operation on a throat cancer patient.
The operation was undertaken by a team of Ear, Nose and Throat surgeons led by Dr Anna Konney.The patient was a 63-year-old man suffering from Laryngeal cancer (cancer of the voice box). The operation lasted seven hours.
The feat has given hope to people with such problems that they can now have treatment at the KATH.
Laryngeal cancer which is more common in men within the age group of 51 and above, and is more likely to affect people addicted to smoking than non-smokers.
Alcohol abuse is also another risk factor, which indicates that the risk factor is higher among those who smoke and consume alcohol in large quantities.
Patients who suffer from the disease have difficulty in breathing and swallowing. They also have hoarseness in their voices with swellings in their necks.
Briefing the Daily Graphic after the maiden operation, Dr Anna Konney said patients who trooped to the hospital for medical care mostly report late.
“ The late presentation has made it difficult, if not impossible for patients to benefit from existing management modalities, ” he stressed.
He said such patients were given palliative care, which included the placing of a tube in their stomachs for feeding, radiotherapy to manage their pain “ while we painfully wait for them to pass on”.
Dr Anna Konney pointed out that for such patients, especially those with advanced laryngeal cancer, the total removal of the voice box “ is a definitive treatment, but patients have refused surgical treatment mainly because of the loss of voice following the surgery”.
He gave the assurance that patients could be rehabilitated “ to communicate effectively by other means”, adding “ surgical management, when combined with other treatment modalities such as chemotherapy and radiotherapy, improves the survival rate and quality of life of patients”.
Dr Anna Konney said the 63-year-old man was doing very well after the operation, stressing that “ the current capacity of the E.N.T unit to provide surgical treatment, as well as radiotherapy availability here in KATH, offers hope for such patients.