Mumbai: Daughter’s push for check-up saves mother’s life

(From left) Robotic cancer surgeon Dr Vishnu Agarwal, patient Asha Makwana and her daughter Pinky

For the first time in his 15-year career, a cancer surgeon successfully treated a 65-year-old woman patient on the brink of cervical cancer - just six months from a diagnosis - thanks to her daughter's insistence on a routine check-up.

The woman underwent a robotic-assisted hysterectomy at Jaslok hospital last month and has since been stable. "She was in the pre-cancer stage (cervical intraepithelial neoplasia grade 3) and had no symptoms. Had she waited a few more months, she would likely have had postmenopausal bleeding and other signs of cervical cancer," said Dr Vishnu Agarwal, the robotic cancer surgeon who treated her.

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Typically, patients visit doctors either in very early stages, where medication may be sufficient, or after cancer has developed, requiring more aggressive treatments like surgery, radiation, or chemotherapy, which often offer less chance of a cure. In this case, she was cured because the disease was caught early, said the doctor.

"We went for robotic surgery given her age; it is minimally invasive and allows for faster recovery. Open surgery and laparoscopic options are available, but they involve longer recovery periods, with patients usually hospitalised at least for a week depending on the case," Dr Agarwal said.

The patient had initially consulted a bone marrow transplant and medical oncologist, who then referred her to Dr Agarwal. Before that visit, the woman had not seen a gynecologist for at least two or three years. Dr Agarwal said that this case is a reminder for routine checkups and that cancer is far more curable when detected early.

Cervical cancer remains one of the most common cancers in women, with around five lakh new cases diagnosed globally each year, of which two lakh result in death. According to Dr Agarwal, many of these women never underwent the screening tests that could detect precancerous lesions and prevent these deaths.