At St Panteleimon Hospital of the First Medical Association of Lviv, surgeons carried out an extremely complex operation on a patient with stage III ovarian cancer. The woman initially sought medical help at her local clinic only because of abdominal enlargement; she had no other symptoms.
During an ultrasound examination, doctors detected fluid in the abdominal cavity. Further investigations — computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging — revealed an ovarian tumour. After additional tests at Lviv’s St Panteleimon Hospital, the patient received a final diagnosis: stage III ovarian cancer with spread throughout the entire abdominal cavity, including the spleen, liver and rectum.
A multidisciplinary team of oncological surgeons and gynaecological oncologists worked on the treatment and performed an optimal cytoreductive procedure. During the operation, the medical team removed the uterus with cervix and adnexa, the entire parietal peritoneum from the small pelvis to the diaphragm, part of the rectum and the affected segments of the liver, as well as the spleen and appendix. The final stage was the complete removal of the greater omentum.
According to the doctors, they succeeded in removing all visible sites of tumour involvement during surgery, which is a key factor in the success of subsequent treatment.
«The operation was very difficult. The postoperative period in such patients is always complicated, requiring knowledge and experience, joint efforts by the doctor and the patient, and faith that everything will turn out well. We managed it, and the patient was discharged from the inpatient unit for further treatment», adds gynaecological oncologist Svitlana Sorokivska.
The woman is now preparing for the next stage of therapy — chemotherapy. She admits that she had not undergone routine gynaecological check-ups for a long time, and urges other women to have regular health screenings so that any potential diseases can be detected at an early stage.
The First Medical Association of Lviv offers all modern stages of care for oncology patients — from diagnosis and comprehensive treatment to complex surgical interventions and rehabilitation. In addition to St Panteleimon Hospital, the association also includes the hospitals of St Luke, St Nicholas, St Anne, the UNBROKEN rehabilitation centre, and treatment and diagnostic centres.