Doctors at AIIMS Delhi have successfully performed the institute’s first total laparoscopic Whipple procedure on an 11-year-old girl with a rare pancreatic tumor, making her the youngest patient in the world to undergo this procedure entirely via the laparoscopic route. The patient, from Garhwa, Jharkhand, presented with persistent abdominal pain and was diagnosed with solid pseudopapillary epithelial neoplasm after a thorough evaluation. Considering the potential complications of open surgery, doctors opted for a laparoscopic approach.
The surgical team meticulously planned the procedure to ensure complete tumor removal while avoiding injury to surrounding blood vessels. The operation was performed through four small incisions and lasted eight and a half hours, with minimal blood loss of just 80 ml. The lead surgeon and professor of pediatric surgery emphasized that the procedure…