Surgery to remove football-sized tumour done on Omani at 'Apollo Hospitals'

Chennai: A rare surgery to remove a football sized malignant cartilaginous tumour in the leg instead of amputating it from a 44-year-old female patient from Oman was recently performed at city’s Apollo Hospitals recently. 

The patient was affected due to Chondrosarcoma, which is a type of tumour that affects the bones and joints. It is a rare cancer that accounts for about 20 per cent of bone tumours and usually begins in the bones, but can sometimes occur in the soft tissue near bones (cartilage).

Maryam Salim Said Al Isaii was brought to the city hospital with an unbearable swelling in her right leg making her immobile. She was diagnosed to have recurrent Chondrosarcoma in shinbone. Various doctors suggested to amputate the limb since the tumour was complex in size (16.4 X 13.5 X 19.5 cm) and encasing major blood vessels, artery and nerves.

A team of doctors led by Dr Mayilvahanan Natarajan, senior consultant, orthopaedic oncologist and Dr N Sekar, senior vascular surgeon performed wide resection of tumor and custom mega prosthesis to remove the tumour and saved the limb.

“The eight-hour surgery was performed on August 2, 2018 to remove a football-sized tumour from the patient’s leg as it was damaging the major blood vessels. We tried and successfully saved her limb and the patient is now able to stand and walk with help,” said Dr Natarajan.

The patient is now stable with active ankle and toe movements and is now mobilized with walker support.