For cancers below the waist: In AIIMS, a new procedure helps patients leave hospital much sooner

A new method, developed by the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) for groin dissection — key for surgeries pertaining to cancers below the waist, including melanoma, anal cancer and gynaecological cancer — has significantly reduced morbidity rates as well as recovery time for patients from nearly two months to just three-four days.

Known as the ‘river know incisional technique’, it looks to minimise post-operative complications, the probability of which could be as high as 66%, by a simple change in the method: a modified “skin bridge technique” that uses “curvilinear incisions”. The method was initially accepted in the World Journal of Methodology in 2016 and after successful utilisation in 105 cases, the results were published in the World Journal of Surgery in April.