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Patient stories2026-02-27

Come to Shanghai to preserve the spleen: Canadian girl’s pancreatic tumor surgery

Canadian doctor Kevin was looking for a solution for his 10-year-old daughter to remove the pancreatic tumor while preserving the spleen as much as possible, and contacted the Ruijin team through online communication.

Reprinted by Liberation Daily/Shanghai Municipal Government · 2026-02-27

#Canada#solid pseudopapillary neoplasm of the pancreas#Ruijin Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine
Come to Shanghai to preserve the spleen: Canadian girl’s pancreatic tumor surgery
Shanghai Ruijin Hospital campus data map.
From
Canada
Hospital for treatment
Ruijin Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine
Disease
solid pseudopapillary neoplasm of the pancreas
Treatment/medical stage
Robot-assisted spleen-preserving surgery

The family is concerned about more than just removing the tumor

The 10-year-old daughter of Vancouver doctor Kevin was found to have a large solid pseudopapillary tumor of the pancreas. He sought surgical opinions from medical institutions in Canada, the United States and Japan. He was also worried about the impact that spleen removal would have on his child's future life, and hoped to find a solution that could preserve the spleen.

From online information to imaging evaluation

Through other medical experiences on social media, Kevin contacted Dr. Jin Jiabin of Ruijin Hospital. The team reviewed the CT images to further analyze the relationship between the tumor and surrounding blood vessels, and then discussed the feasibility of robot-assisted surgery and spleen preservation. Whether the organ can be preserved depends on the specific anatomy and surgical evaluation.

Fine separation and organ preservation

On January 10, 2026, the medical team performed surgery to finely separate the tumor from related blood vessels and deal with the small blood vessel branches. Completion of tumor resection while preserving the spleen was the family's primary concern as they sought treatment across borders.

After surgery

According to reports, the girl recovered after the operation and was discharged from the hospital. The motivation for coming to China for this case was to seek a professional team for specific surgical problems, rather than simply comparing the medical standards in different countries. The child's long-term recovery and reexamination will still be determined by follow-up medical evaluation.

Report source

Reprinted by Jiefang Daily/Shanghai Municipal Government · 2026-02-27 · View original report ↗

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