18-yr-old undergoes successful surgery for largest tumour

New Delhi: An 18-year-old patient who was carrying a tumour weighing 12 kg underwent a successful surgery at a prominent private hospital in Delhi, making it the largest in-situ (inside body) so far, said the hospital authorities.

According to the hospital authorities, the largest tumour earlier reported was by University of Miami, US in 2014. When Praveen Kumar Gupta came to the hospital in December last year, he was unable to walk or sit properly and had a huge swelling in the left thigh. Due to pressure on nerves and blood vessels, there was weakness and loss of sensations in the limb.

Investigations revealed that there was a huge tumour (size of 37cm x 18cm x 12cm) which involved the hip and the full length of back of the thigh. The swelling appeared in 2012, and gradually increased.

"The patient was diagnosed with rapid growing tumour. If we had delayed the surgery, it would have turned malignant. Morbidity and mortality chances are always high in such cases. The tumour was local, infiltrating into blood vessels and nerves," Dr Brajesh Nandan, Orthopaedic Onco-Surgeon said. Gupta ran the risk of his tumour extending till pelvis, abdomen, knee joint or even back.

"The tumour was perfused by blood supply making it highly vascular in nature. Before the removal, our team performed a procedure called pre-operative embolization in which we blocked the blood supply to the tumour to reduce blood loss during the surgical excision," Dr Ambrish Satwick, Vascular and Endovascular Surgeon added. According to the medical experts, the main challenge was that blood supply of the tumour was adjoining the main blood supply of the lower limb.