TUMOR SURGERY OFFERS FARMER HOPE

CATHY O'LEARY MEDICAL - EDITOR, The West Australian

Perth doctors have used painstaking surgery to save the arm of an East Timorese farmer who had an aggressive football-sized tumour.

The seven-hour operation at Hollywood Private Hospital last week was challenging because the tumour was wrapped around bone, tissue and nerves and the function of hand had to be maintained.

With limited medical resources in East Timor, Agostinho Marques, 29, who supports a family including his seven-year-old daughter, faced an amputation. The tumour had replaced most of his radius bone and could have turned cancerous.

Orthopaedic surgeon Richard Carey-Smith, plastic surgeon Adrian Brooks and other specialists volunteered time and Rotary International paid for Mr Marques' visit. Perth's East Timorese community helped with his care.

Dr Carey-Smith said managing bone and soft tissue tumours was complex but the surgery went well.

"We found the major nerves and vessels and then moved the tendons off both sides of the arm," Mr Carey-Smith said. "The next step was the removal of the tumour and bone from the arm and reconstruction of the arm by fusing the hand to the remaining bone."

The hospital and its parent company Ramsay Health Care regularly fund humanitarian projects in Australia and overseas.

Mr Marques said he was grateful his arm was saved, especially because he had a family to support.