Jul 19, 2007 - 04:04:43 CDT
Dale Hurt already lost one kidney to cancer.Then the retired New Salem school superintendent found out, almost by accident, that cancer threatened his remaining kidney.
"It was devastating," Hurt said.
Unknown to Hurt and his doctor, a temporary stent was left in his pancreas and it became blocked. During a routine blood test, doctors became concerned the elevated numbers indicated pancreatic cancer. An X-ray for the pancreas showed a tumor on his kidney.
He and his wife, Joy, went to Minneapolis for further evaluation for his pancreas and learned it was the stent. Good news, that soon turned grim.
Doctors in Minneapolis recommended immediate removal of the kidney, which meant a lifetime of dialysis. Faced with that prognosis, he and his wife came back to Bismarck to have it done closer to home.
The Hurts were resigned to removing the kidney and toured the dialysis center at Medcenter One, when they changed their mind. Dr. Nadim Koleilat at Medcenter One had another option for Hurt.
"When Isaw Dr. Koleilat come around the corner with a big grin on his face, I knew it was good news," Joy Hurt said. "He didn't have to say a word."
It was the first time Koleilat did the cryogenic surgery on a kidney; it's a more common procedure for the prostate. The surgery on the kidney works by inserting a laparoscope, which is a tubelike medical instrument, into the abdomen. Through the laparoscope, special needles are inserted into the tumor that inject it with gases that can freeze the cells.
"It (the surgery) makes an ice ball inside the tumor," Koleilat said. This is done twice, killing the cells that are frozen.
The surgery takes about an hour and patients can be released the same day or the next day. Hurt has two scars, about 2 inches long, where the laparoscope was inserted. The scar from his nephrectomy in 1999 extends from his back to the left of his belly button.
The tumor cells on the right kidney are dead, and Hurt kept his kidney. Now he can play golf and spend time in his workshop instead of driving to Bismarck three days a week for dialysis.
"I would have needed to give up woodworking," he said. "I would have died. I would have given up."
The cryogenic surgery works on the kidneys if the tumor is on the outside of the kidney. People who have this procedure, called cryoablation, are followed up after three months, six months, one year and then once a year for five years. The doctor checks for tumor regrowth. If it happens, the tumor can be refrozen, Koleilat said.
He could have removed Hurt's kidney or sliced out the tumor, but given the tumor's location, it could have compromised the kidney's function, Koleilat said.
The surgery was done the Wednesday before Thanksgiving. Hurt was released the next day and was able to go to Thanksgiving dinner at his daughter's house.
"We have truly been blessed," Joy Hurt said.
Dale Hurt had a checkup recently, and it showed the surgery was successful.
(Reach reporter Sara Kincaid at 250-8251 or sara.kincaid@;bismarcktribune.com.)
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