10.2 kg tumour removed from patient's abdomen

Secunderabad: After a complex surgery, doctors of KIMS Hospital, Secunderabad gave a new lease of life to Srinivas, a farmer from Warangal, who had been suffering from the abdominal cancer for the past 10 months.

In the surgery that lasted for over 6 hours, doctors successfully removed a giant tumour, weighing 10.23 kg, from the abdomen of a patient. The patient was experiencing discomfort and was confined to the house for almost 3 to 4 months because of his stomach size and weight. He also lost more than 10 kg weight in those few months.

The scan revealed that the tumour was occupying almost 80% of the space in the abdomen. Also, the tumour had grown to an extent that the entire diaphragm of the patient was pushed up making it difficult for the patient to breathe.

He had to even sleep by sitting in a chair. He spent most of his time sitting in the chair. Further, the tumour was compressing the vital organs in the abdomen, including the liver, kidneys, stomach, intestines and major blood vessels.

Dr Nagendra Parvataneni, consultant surgical oncology, the surgeon who operated on the patient, said, "The tumour had occupied almost the entire abdominal cavity, and due to which the patient was unable to stand or sleep. The long-term compression of the vital organs could be detrimental. The patient is a farmer, and he did not notice any changes initially and gradually his stomach enlarged.

Later, he was unable to walk even for a few meters. Gradually, he was unable to even do his house chores. The situation made him to see a doctor. He later approached several hospitals for treatment. Due to delay, the tumour grew further, and the patient was crippled because of the massive size and was confined to a chair. The patient's attendants sort help from the experts at KIMS Hospitals."

Dr Nagendra Parvataneni and his team members, along with the anaesthesia team, headed by Dr Naresh Reddy, consultant anesthesiologist, performed the complex operation after thoroughly investigating the case. The surgeon opined that such operations require extremely precise dissection in order to prevent injury to vital organs like liver, intestines, kidneys and blood vessels.

The tumour was stuck to the left kidney and pancreas and had to deal delicately with these two organs. Further, the tumour was stuck to the back bones from inside. It took about 6 tedious hours to get the tumour out. The patient was in the SICU for 48 hrs and then was shifted to the ward. He was discharged 8 days after the surgery. The histopathology of the tumour was reported as liposarcoma.

Although this kind of cancers is commonly seen, the size of the tumour makes it unique. The largest liposarcoma tumour to be reported and published in literature across the world is 32 kg and 18 kg in western patients.

However, considering the body size of westerners 10 plus kg is huge. This patient was only 5'1" tall. Considering his small structure, the tumour is monstrous. The largest such liposarcoma tumour reported in Indian published literature is 12 kg. For comparison the average birth weight for Indian babies is around 3 to 3.5 kg.