Doctors remove 5.5 kg tumour from woman's chest

New Delhi: Doctors at Ram Manohar Lohia hospital have removed a 5.5 kg tumour from the chest of a 38-year-old woman giving her a new lease of life.

The left wall of the woman's chest, including the breast,had to be reconstructed as the tumour had left a gaping hole there. Resham (name changed), a native of Kotputali in Rajasthan, had come the hospital with an enlargement on the
left side of her chest which was growing in size for the last 18 years. She also had chest pain and difficulty in breathing.

"Because of the gigantic tumour, the left breast was deformed. Also, the tumour was putting a pressure on her heart and left lung," Dr Arun Kapur, a senior surgeon at RML hospital said.The deformity caused by the tumour also had psychological effect on her as she could not not step out of her house. The woman's husband brought her to the hospital, where the doctors conducted a series of tests to understand the extent of the spread of the tumour and find the way to remove it.

"All the hospitals she visited earlier had refused to perform the surgery as it involved a complex procedure and carried a very high risk to her life," Dr V K Tiwari, head of the Plastic Surgery department at the hospital said."It was a big challenge for us because the tumour was huge and close to her vital organs," the doctor said.

The surgery was conducted on February 20."It continued for nine hours and 35 bottles of blood were transfused," Dr Kapur said. Resham was in the ICU for three days. Satisfied with her healing progress, she was discharged from the hospital 10 days after the surgery."The woman is happy that she has got back her normal appearance and is able to carry out household chores," Dr Kapur said.