A fifty-six-year-old woman who had developed life-threatening complications after pancreatic cancer surgery has been successfully treated via endovascular interventional radiology procedure at a private hospital in Delhi, a statement said on September 6.

The patient had completely given up on life when her pancreatic cancer surgery led her to major complications. She had a severe sentinel bleed of around 300 ml from the gastrointestinal tract, leading to a major dip in haemoglobin level from 9.2 gm per cent to 7.9 gm per cent in a few minutes.

Her problems were diagnosed after a CT angiography of her abdomen was done at the hospital in Delhi. According to the test results, the patient had pseudo-aneurysm - a condition which occurs when a blood vessel wall is injured and an outpouching of the vessel wall is formed which can lead to life-threatening bleeding at any time.

"In this procedure of Interventional Radiology, often called 'Magic Surgery', a small incision (cut) was made in the inner thigh and a catheter (thin, flexible tube) was inserted and guided into an artery near the abnormal tissue. Thereafter, small particles of tiny gelatin beads were injected which blocked the artery and stopped the flow of blood to the abnormal area of tissue," the hospital said.

Intervention Radiology consultant of the hospital said that minor blood loss is quite a common condition after pancreas surgery. However, blood loss after a month of surgery can be due to complications that "should not be overlooked".

The patient was discharged within a day with no blood transfusion post-surgery.