Dr Samrat Jankar, best surgical gastroenterologist in Pune, is also an eminent laparoscopic surgeon, removed a gastric trichobezoarfrom the stomach of a 35 year old female patient. The patient’s family had approached Dr Jankar as the patient complained of abdominal fullness and early satiety for the last few months.
Gastric trichobezoar refers to an accumulated mass of hair, mostly the patient’s hair or, in some cases, hair from carpet, toys or even animals in the stomach. Also, the mass of hair includes a long tail which enters the esophagus and occupies the space of the small intestine causing abdominal fullness, loss of appetite and weight.
Bezoar is a collection of material in the stomach that is not fully digestible that stays accumulated in the digestive canal, leading to blocking the intestines or stomach, as the case may be. There are various types of bezoars, such as lactobezoar, foreign body bezoars, phytobezoars, pharmacobezoars, and diospyrobezoar, to name a few of them.
Trichobezoar is also called Rapunzel’s syndrome as there is a tail of the long hairball extending within the intestines. Patients with trichobezoars are usually adolescents and young girls with psychiatric illnesses or developmental issues.
During the consultation, it was revealed that the patient had a habit of eating hair, while her endoscopy showed a ball of hair occupying her entire stomach. In addition, her CT scan revealed a space occupying lesion in the stomach which extended up to the second part of the duodenum.
Dr Samrat Jankar states, ‘Trichobezoars are detected in young mentally disturbed women who ingest hair which lies undigested in the stomach and even extends within the small intestine. As a result, the patient complains of nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain, weight loss, intestinal obstruction, and bleeding.’
He further added that laparoscopy surgery enables us access to the stomach by making an incision in the stomach and removing the trichobezoars while taking care not to contaminate the abdominal cavity. Also, the strategic use of an endo bag ensured that we removed the mass of hair (trichobezoars) without causing harm to the abdomen and the intestines.
Dr. Samrat Jankar is one of the leading laparoscopic surgeons in Pune and an expert in advanced laparoscopic, LASER and Robotic surgeries for gastrointestinal, HPB, and colorectal and complex hernias. He has received his training in DNB gastrointestinal surgery from the prestigious GEM hospital in Coimbatore and has a Fellowship in minimally invasive surgery (FMAS) (AMASI Nagpur) also he is a gold medalist in fellowship exam conducted by association colorectal surgeons of India.
He has performed many surgeries across his twelve years of experience, such as gastrectomies, esophagectomies, pancreatic resections, colorectal cancers, liver and gastrointestinal cancer, and repair hernias through laparoscopy, sleeve gastrectomy, Bypass surgeries and related bariatric procedures. In addition, he is passionate about minimally invasive surgeries in treating colorectal conditions, complex hernia and fistulaconditions.
Dr Samrat Jankar is available for consultation at Symbiosis University Hospital & Research Center, Lavale and Pune Colorectal & Gastro Care, Pimpri-Chinchwad in Pune.
