102-year-old woman undergoes colectomy

Seoul St. Mary’s Hospital announced on Monday that professor Kim Jun-ki successfully conducted a colectomy on a 102-year-old woman, possibly the oldest patient here to undergo the surgery.

The woman, identified by her family name Moon, was diagnosed with two kinds of intestine cancer earlier this year. She received laparascopic surgery to remove tumors on the rectum and colon. Four days after the surgery, her recovery was significant, her doctors said.

This is the first time a simultaneous tumor removal on two parts of the body was conducted on a person older than 100, the doctors said.

“There is a record of a 99-year-old woman having breast cancer removal in the U.K. Maybe Moon is the oldest,” the hospital said.

(baejisook@heraldcorp.com)