Hehe. Just phoned SA Doc, only to have a scrub sister (I think they're called that) answer the phone. SA Doc, apparently, has her hands so deep inside someone the phone would surely get lost. It's a whipple... that's been going on for 8 hours.I don't even know what a whipple is! Sounds dangerous.
When in doubt, Google it. As long as its not a symptom, remember...
The Whipple operation was first described in the 1930’s by Allan Whipple. In the 1960’s and 1970’s the mortality rate for the Whipple operation was very high. Up to 25% of patients died from the surgery. This experience of the 1970’s is still remembered by some physicians who are reluctant to recommend the Whipple operation.
Today the Whipple operation has become an extremely safe operation in the USA. At tertiary care centers where a large numbers of these procedures are performed by a selected few surgeons, the mortality rate from the operation is less than 4%. Studies have shown that for good outcomes from the Whipple surgery, the experience of the center and the surgeon is important. At USC, Dilip Parekh M.D. has performed more than 100 consecutive Whipple type of procedures over the past 9 years with good outcomes.
What is a Whipple operation?
In the Whipple operation the head of the pancreas, a portion of the bile duct, the gallbladder and the duodenum is removed. Occasionally a portion of the stomach may also be removed. After removal of these structures the remaining pancreas, bile duct and the intestine is sutured back into the intestine to direct the gastrointestinal secretions back into the gut.
Shudder. I hope the poor guys duodenum isn't useful! More info here.
PS. Took a flyer on the picture. SA Doc can confirm the gory truth tomorrow.
3 comments:
Hmm. It's very hard to say WHAT that is.
I am really inexperienced at blogging and at effectively looking up info. But this blog about Whipple's procedure is helpful to me. My sister has been told she needs to go thru this procedure and, while I know a bit about it from my online searches, I am unable to locate a way to determine how many of these surgeries the 2 centers and doctors have performed. Can anybody out there give an illiterate Internet novice advice as to how to find this fact out?
Facmocav, I don't know where you're from. But if you're from SA, then you need to ask the surgeon yourself, there is no registry.
If you're from another country, I can't help, sorry.
Why don't you ask the surgeons yourself? it's alot easier than google (who by the way doesn't always have the answers!)
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