Early Cancer Diagnosis Results in Cure

When Jorge Fonte’s family noticed he looked pale, they urged him to see a doctor. He had been feeling a little bit tired, but had no other symptoms.

“We thought he might be having problems with his heart,” said daughter Barbara Ronda. “He had open heart surgery 17 years ago.”

Jorge went to Jackson South Medical Center for testing. Blood work showed that he was anemic and needed an immediate transfusion. In looking for the source of his blood loss, doctors performed an endoscopy and colonoscopy.

They found gastric cancer.

Gastric cancer is aggressive and can spread quickly. Two days after the diagnosis, Dr. Eddie Gomez of the Digestive Center of Health at Jackson South removed the cancerous tumor through a laparoscopic gastrostomy, which is a minimally invasive procedure. The surgical team made five small incisions and removed 85 percent of Jorge’s stomach and 17 lymph nodes.

“With the minimally invasive surgery, I was pain free,” Jorge said. “I was able to go home two days after the surgery.”

Traditionally, physicians have performed major open surgery to remove gastric tumors, but some studies have found that cancer spreads faster when it is exposed to air. Laparoscopic procedures minimize that potential danger and accelerate the patient’s recovery.

Jorge has resumed his normal activities and now has a stomach similar to that of a person who has undergone gastric bypass surgery. He has lost more than 26 pounds and is feeling healthy. Even though the entire cancer was removed, he received chemotherapy as a precaution. At his first check-up, he was still cancer-free.