Doctors use ultrasonic tech to remove tumour from 1-yr-old's lip

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Doctors at Sanjay Gandhi Postgraduate Institute of Medical Sciences (SGPGIMS) here have successfully operated on a one-year-old boy suffering from a congenital vascular tumour on his lips with a new tool harmonics scalpel.

With this, SGPGI becomes one of the very few centres in the world to have this advanced facility for treating vascular malformations.

The patient, Ayush Yadav, a resident of Jaunpur, was referred from the district hospital.

The boy was born with a large vascular tumour on the upper lip. He was initially treated with sclerosant agents to shrink the lesion, but it did not help.

The team of SGPGI doctors used the latest technology of harmonic scalpel to remove the entire tumour.

The child is doing well after surgery which took place on Wednesday, said doctors.

The harmonics scalpel is an ultrasonic energy device with a 7mm vessel sealing indication.

It has advanced adaptive tissue technology which delivers precision, multifunctionality and advanced haemostasis for stronger large vessel sealing. It ensures less tissue damage and seals vessels with a 7mm diameter. The device divides tissue by using high-frequency (55,000 Hz) ultrasonic energy transmitted between the instrument blades.

The active blade of the instrument vibrates longitudinally against an inactive blade over an excursion of 50-100 µm, which reduces bleeding, in comparison to if vessels are operated by conventional methods.

"The new tools can be a gamechanger in congenital vascular tumours because when the tumour is removed, excessive bleeding is seen due to a large number of tissues in it, but with the help of harmonic scalpel the removal of tumour is more precise and with lesser bleeding. This kind of surgery is done for the first time in SGPGI and now we have this advanced facility of treating vascular malformations," said Rajeev Agarwal, HoD, Department of Plastic Surgery, SGPGI.