TN doctors remove 33.5 kg tumour from woman's stomach, aim for world record
Coimbatore: Doctors at a Coimbatore-based hospital operated on the "world's heaviest tumour" recently when they managed to successfully remove an ovarian tumour weighing 33.5 kg from a woman's stomach.
The patient, Vasantha, is an agricultural labourer from Ooty and ignored the growing size of her stomach as she felt no pain or discomfort. However, she was compelled to take medical help as her abdomen became larger with time and she began experiencing pain.
Local surgeons, after conducting necessary tests, concluded that it was an ovarian tumour; however, they refused to undertake a surgery citing slim chances of survival for Vasantha.
"Pain was the main cause and it was unbearable. I was not able to walk, not able to have proper food and also suffered from breathlessness. Then I finally decided to visit a doctor," said Vasantha.
She got to know about a Coimbatore-based hospital, where a team of doctors, including Dr Senthil Kumar, Dr Piyush, Dr Anita, and Dr Satish Kumar, successfully removed her tumour.
After meeting the patient, Dr Senthil Kumar said, "We noticed her discomfort, she was struggling to walk and was having a lot of problem in breathing, and she had fear because she was told that if they operate, she won't survive."
Talking about the procedure they followed, Kumar explained how the tumour was affecting the patient. "We further investigated with more scans and investigations, and we found that it was a very large tumour which was occupying the whole abdomen, and it was also compressing the inferior vena cava which carries the blood from the lower half of the body to the heart, because of the compression, she was having the dilated veins all over the abdomen," he said.
Adding that all precautions were taken during the operation, Dr Kumar said that the doctors ensured there is no blood clotting during and post the procedure.
"We took all the precautions, to improve on complications like bleeding. We, in fact, used a pump to pump the lower limp blood vessels, so that there won't be any blood clotting while doing the surgery, and immediate post operating period," Kumar stated.
It took the doctors nearly 3 hours to complete the surgery, with minimal blood loss.
"The original weight of the patient when she came here was 75 kg, and after the operation, we weighed the tumour, which was about 33.5 kgs. After sending it for biopsy, we got to know that it was ovarian cancer," the doctor explained.
He further claimed that a world record has been set with the said operations, "This is the heaviest ovarian cancer operated worldwide till now, that is the record, which we have created."
"The maximum size of the tumour removed in India is 20 kgs in AIIMS Delhi and Pondicherry. We have already got approval and certification from Indian Book of Records and Asian Book of Records, and we have sent it for approval to World Book of Records and Guinness World Records is under process," Kumar explained.
On being asked about the patient's health, he stated, "The patient is all right and was discharged on the third day. The patient's weight came down from 75 kgs to around 41 kgs, and the patient is under follow-up till now. Since it hasn't spread in the other organs, the chances of survival are good for her."
