Hyderabad: In an extremely rare case, doctors in Hyderabad detected and removed two lumps in the chest and neck regions of a nine-year-old child in the city. Experts said the complications were due to the improper development in the womb of the spinal cord of the fetus.
The child has lumps inside the neck region, attached to the spinal cord and the chest — making it difficult for him to breathe. The child has also complained of sustained breathlessness.
Suspecting it to be asthma, the boy had undergone treatment but there was no relief. The doctors then asked for a CT scan and in that, these two lumps were found.
Dr R.N. Ratnakar, a consultant neurosurgeon said: “This was a deformity due to the genetic composition or due to nutritional deficiencies during the pregnancy which got transferred from the mother to the child. There have only been two such recorded cases in the world and this is the third one. The first was recorded in China and second one in Puducherry. But the patients didn’t follow up for medical advice. This child came to the hospital on time because at this age, treatment could be successful.”
While this is only the third case of lumps in the interior region of the neck and spine, lumps in the exterior region have been found in the neck and tail-bone of the spine in 54 cases around the world. Lumps in the exterior are removed surgically and often, they do not cause any deformity to the infant. This child was very lean and had to undergo three surgeries at three different times for the successful removal of the lump.
Dr Krishna Prasad, chief cardiothoracic surgeon said: “At every point, we had to calculate how much strength the child had recovered to put him through one more dose of anaesthesia and long hours of surgery. There was a lot of study which had to be done as the lump in the chest was different from that in the neck. Due to accumulating fluid, it increased in size and compressed the heart and other vessels. The fluid had to be drained out completely without damaging the chest structure and this required using endoscopy so that all the nerves and small blood vessels could be seen.”
With the removal of these lumps, there is now a deep mark on the child’s throat as the operation had to be conducted from that area. With the neck joints not developed, the child still has a stiff neck and movement of the head is restricted.
Doctors say the stiffness of the neck will remain until the child reaches 14. But the experts said there are also chances the stiffness could stay on. But chances of the lumps’ re-occurrence has been completely negated and doctors have advised the family to keep up the medical follow-ups until the child is 14. The treatment was carried out under the Aarogyasri health scheme by a private hospital in the city.
