Page 7 - Read Online

Topic: EuRePS Meeting 2015: best five papers

Incredible surgery in India

Giovanna Spinzo

Unit of Plastic, Reconstructive and Aesthetic Surgery, Policlinico Di Modena, 41124 Modena, Italy.
Address for correspondence: Dr. Giovanna Spinzo, Unit of Plastic, Reconstructive and Aesthetic Surgery, Policlinico Di Modena, 41124
Modena, Italy. E-mail: giovanna.spinzo@gmail.com

I completed my Residency in Plastic and Reconstructive anterolateral thigh flap; other flap performed weekly
Surgery at Tata Memorial Hospital, in Mumbai, India. were pectoral mayor muscle cutaneous flap (about 5 per
“Everybody has gone through something that has week), or latissimus dorsi (about 2 per week).
changed them in a way that they could never go back to
the person they once were.” My life changing experience Deep inferior epigastric perforators flaps for breast
happened in India. reconstruction where performed once or twice a week
and that’s not including the larger number of breast
The first time I stepped foot in India was the 26th of cancer removals per week (approximately 20). Breast
September 2014. My Professor, Giorgio De Santis, Chief reconstruction is not a “trend” in India and this is basically
of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery Department at due to the conservative way of thinking and religious
Policlinico di Modena, President in charge of the Italian beliefs; the female body is still considered a taboo and
Society of Plastic, Reconstructive and Aesthetic Surgery, women often lack of self-confidence. Many women are
gave all his residents the opportunity to spend six months unaware that it is even an option they could consider.
of their residency abroad; I chose India.
At TMH a normal surgery day was scheduled as following:
Though I was excited to embark on this new adventure, I patients arrived at the operating theater at 8 a.m.; after
also had some fears about India. However, upon arriving anesthesia induction, while the oncosurgeon started
many of my fears were quickly washed away. the demolition part, the plastic surgeons (one senior
consultant and residents or fellows assisting him or
I was a visiting doctor at Tata Memorial Hospital (TMH), performing surgery by themselves) performed the
the second largest cancer hospital in Asia and the national harvesting of the flap; the microscope time was always
center for prevention, treatment, education and research in the middle afternoon and most of the cases were
in cancer. India is the oral cancer capital of the world; completed for dinner time.
80% of Indian patients come to consultancy with late or
advanced stage malignancy. The major cause is “chewing The senior consultants always trusted us as he would say,
tobacco”, a smokeless tobacco product consumed by “Start, be confident, and if you have any problem, stop; I
placing a portion of tobacco between cheek and gum or will guide you and help you”. This is real teaching plastic
upper lip teeth and chewing. In particular in India the surgery.
most common used is “paan”, a preparation combining
betel leaf with areca nut, tobacco, slaked lime (chunnam); I spent the first month observing and trying to understand
it is an addictive and euphoria-inducing formulation. their entire system: the timing, the scrubbing, the
instruments, the recording system, the tips and trick of
At TMH every week about 15 free flaps were performed, surgery in India. After a month of observations, I started
mainly for head and neck reconstruction; free fibula to scrub and to be part of the group. They welcomed
flap was daily bread, along with free radial forearm or This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative
Commons Attribution‑NonCommercial‑ShareAlike 3.0 License, which allows
Access this article online others to remix, tweak and build upon the work non‑commercially, as long as the
Quick Response Code: author is credited and the new creations are licensed under the identical terms.
Website:
http://www.parjournal.net For reprints contact: service@oaepublish.com

DOI: How to cite this article: Spinzo G. Incredible surgery in India.
10.20517/2347-9264.2016.29 Plast Aesthet Res 2016;3:221-2.
Received: 19-04-2016; Accepted: 07-06-2016
© 2016 Plastic and Aesthetic Research | Published by OAE Publishing Inc. 221