Apollo Speciality Hospitals, Madurai, achieved a significant milestone in minimally invasive cancer care with the successful performance of an advanced Microwave Ablation (MWA) procedure for pancreatic cancer on a 78-year-old patient from Rajapalayam.

The innovative treatment was performed as part of a complex multidisciplinary surgical approach for carcinoma of the head of pancreas.

The elderly patient initially presented with yellowish discoloration of urine, loss of appetite, and weight loss. Detailed evaluation confirmed carcinoma of the pancreatic head, following which he was admitted for an advanced surgical management. After a comprehensive preoperative assessment involving urology, cardiology, pulmonology, endocrinology, general medicine, and anaesthesia teams, the patient underwent Bilio-Digestive Bypass with Intraoperative Microwave Ablation of the Pancreatic Tumour.

Microwave ablation is an advanced image-guided minimally invasive technique in which controlled thermal energy is delivered directly into the tumour to destroy cancer cells while preserving surrounding healthy tissue. Pancreatic cancer is widely regarded as one of the most challenging cancers to treat because of its deep anatomical location and close proximity to major blood vessels and vital organs. The use of microwave ablation offers new hope, particularly for elderly or high-risk patients who may not be ideal candidates for extensive radical surgery.

Postoperatively, the patient was managed in the intensive care unit with advanced critical care support, antibiotics, analgesia, and nutritional rehabilitation. Despite a brief episode of postoperative vomiting that was managed conservatively, the patient recovered steadily and was discharged in stable condition.

Interventional Radiologists played a crucial role in the successful procedure by performing the microwave ablation under advanced ultrasound guidance.

Surgical Gastroenterologists J. Madhusudhanan and Srinivasan Ramachandran said, “Microwave ablation represents an important advancement in the management of pancreatic tumours. This technology allows precise destruction of cancer tissue with minimal trauma, shorter recovery time, and improved quality of life, especially for elderly and high-risk patients.”

Managing pancreatic cancer requires meticulous planning and multidisciplinary coordination. Combining bilio-digestive bypass with intraoperative microwave ablation helped us achieve effective tumour control while minimizing surgical stress, they added.

Interventional Radiologists A. John Robert and K. B. Santhosh Babu said, “an advanced image-guided microwave ablation allows precise and targeted destruction of tumors while preserving surrounding healthy tissues.”