Weight-loss surgery performed on Mumbai woman with reverse organs

A 32-year-old woman in Mumbai has been living with a disorder that strikes only one in a million. Suffering from partial situs inversus, Janhavi Raul weighed 112 kg when she recently sought help for obesity consultation.

Dr Sanjay Borude, bariatric surgeon said, “She had a stomach which was double the size of a normal person’s. We have decided to perform a vertical sleeve gastrectomy and cut out 80% of the stomach to reduce her urge to eat. The operation was a challenge because of the disorder.”

Raul who is married with a child and works as a commercial artist, was aware of the disorder. She was operated on today at BSES MG hospital, Andheri.

“She came to us a week ago. When she told us her stomach was located in the right side of the body instead of left, we did a thorough checkup before going ahead with the surgery. Apart from her heart, which was located in left, the stomach, intestine, liver, appendix were located in the reverse direction,” said Dr Borude.

This surgery is the first of its kind in India. Situs inversus (also called situs transversus or oppositus) is a congenital condition in which the major visceral organs are reversed from their normal positions. The normal arrangement is known as situs solitus. While complete situs inversus disorder is found in one among 22,000 people, partial situs inversus is very rare and found in only one among a million people.

“I wanted to lose weight as it was creating lot of health problems. I already knew about my condition as I was told my stomach was located in the reverse direction during my pregnancy,” said Raul.
Post-operation, doctors are monitoring Raul’s condition. “In normal cases, a sleeve gastrectomy patient is discharged in two-three days. But we may keep her for a longer time and see how her body is reacting,” said Dr Borude.