Surgeon performs life-saving kidney procedure to save patient

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Surgeon performs life-saving kidney procedure to save patient


HOSPITAL specialist Anurag Golash has become the first British medic to remove swollen kidneys from a dying patient without the need for a major operation.

He used pioneering keyhole surgery at the University Hospital of North Staffordshire (UHNS) to cut out both diseased organs which had grown to the size of new-born twins in car maker Ian Gourlay.

Instead of the traditional procedure of slicing the entire width of the abdomen and cutting into muscle to reach the kidneys, the consultant made just six pin holes for his instruments and a camera.

He spent the next five hours pulling the tissue, weighing 16 pounds, through an inch-long incision in his stomach, and cutting it off a bit at a time.


Mr Golash, a surgeon at the Hartshill complex for six years, said: "The kidneys had so many cysts on them they looked like bubble-wrap.

"Surgeons in the USA have already used keyhole methods for this particular procedure, but I know of no others in Britain doing it.

"I already do a lot of keyhole work here and in fact it was a patient who first asked why I couldn't use it for this procedure as well.

"So I read up on it and decided to give it a go, even though some colleagues thought I was taking the mickey when I told them how much tissue I intended to take out with laparoscopic (keyhole) surgery."

Grandfather Ian, aged 57, of Wistaston, was walking within three days of the operation, out of hospital a week later and back at work at Bentley in Crewe after just seven weeks.

If he had undergone the conventional operation needing dozens of stitches, he would have stayed at UHNS for six weeks and taken many months to recover, as well as being at much higher risk of infection and complications.

His organs were damaged because he suffers from the inherited illness of polycystic kidney disease which brings only five patients a year to the hospital.

The kidneys started to grow slowly several years ago until recently ballooning so alarmingly they were compressing his other vital organs.

Ian, a father-of-one, began dialysis at Crewe's Leighton Hospital but doctors were so worried about his deteriorating health they referred him to Mr Golash, who was already using keyhole surgery to remove normal-sized kidneys.

Mr Gourlay said: "I was dreadfully ill as my stomach grew to the size of a pregnant woman. I struggled to eat, drink and lost all my energy.

"I was also so embarrassed by their size. I became a total recluse. But weight was falling off me everywhere else and I was terrified I was dying.

"I was told the risks of an operation and readily agreed to it. I weighed 11 stone when I went into theatre and eight and a half when I came out."

Ian, a coach-builder, is now putting the pounds back on naturally and undergoing tests to see if he can go on to the waiting list for a kidney transplant.

He added: "Mr Golash is a wonderful surgeon and his expertise saved my life. I'm feeling better than I have for years. In fact I am so well I feel guilty when I go for dialysis three times a week.

"When I returned to the Leighton dialysis unit after surgery, there was a note by my bed saying – congratulations on giving birth to twins and welcome back."

Mr Golash has now performed the same surgery on two more patients from Stafford and Stoke-on-Trent and is writing up an academic paper for publication in a specialist medical journal.

http://www.thisisstaffordshire.co.uk/news/Pioneering-kidney-op-saved-life/article-3111725-detail/article.html