HYDERABAD, May 13: The head of the urology department of the Liaquat University of Medical and Health Sciences, Prof (Dr) Mohammad Shahzad Leghari, has conducted five successful surgeries of cancerous urinary bladder through implantation of new bladder.

The operation (radical cystectomy and new bladder) made Hyderabad the third city of the country where such surgeries would be conducted now in public and private sector hospitals.

Talking to journalists at the Rajputana hospital on Saturday, he said that the number of patients of urinary bladder cancer was increasing in Sindh and mostly patients belonged to the farming community.

Dr Khan Mohammad Almani and Mohammad Paryal Shah, who recently underwent surgery, were present on the occasion.

He said that it was believed that the farmers were directly exposed to use of fertilizer, made of chemicals, they become patients of cancerous urinary bladder.

Dr Leghari, who returned from Egypt after obtaining training in this field, said that the Rajputana hospital’s chairman Prof Salahuddin Siddiqui supported the operations.

He said that the first surgery was performed on Mohammad Ashraf at the LUMHS hospital, Jamshoro branch, for well over seven hours.

He said that in Sindh patients of bladder cancer were increasing rapidly who after undergoing the surgery become cancer-free.

He said that people who suffered from the disease consulted general practitioners after complaining blood in urine but during clinical treatment actual cause of disease was not ascertained and when they approached concerned consultant it was very late.

He said that since they were diagnosed very late majority of such patients died.

He said that earlier through another surgery only a portion of bladder was treated which subsequently needed radiotherapy.

He said that one such patient was always on the operation list which indicated how common this disease had become.

He said that now the entire cancerous bladder could be substituted through implantation of another bladder, made of intestines within the body. He said that in Egypt one surgery was performed daily which indicated number of patients of bladder cancer.

“The use of chemical fertilizers by farmers in the fields can be a possible cause of this disease”, he said. He described the achievement as a revolution because people could now easily avail this surgery even at the LUMHS hospital where it would only cost Rs15,000 because there were some surgical items which needed to be bought from outside.

In most of the cases, he said that the hospital management provided these items to the urology department.

“It is highly skilled work because no electronic instrument is involved in the surgery which is full of complications”, he said.

He said that during post-operative care patient was required to stay in hospital for three weeks.