10 kg tumour removed from a man’s abdomen

The tumour was occupying more than 80% of the person’s abdominal cavity and had compressed most of his internal organs and blood vessels

DR USHAST DHIR, surgeon, Sir Ganga Ram Hospital

NEW DELHI: A tumour weighing more than 10 kg was removed from a man’s abdomen by doctors of Sir Ganga Ram Hospital in the city 20 days ago. The patient walked out of the hospital in just a week.

“We don’t really know the actual weight of the tumour. The weighing machine in the OT only measures up to 10 kilogram. The tumour was occupying more than 80 percent of the person’s abdominal cavity and had compressed most of his internal organs and blood vessels,” said Dr Ushast Dhir, the lead surgeon and a consultant in the department of surgical gastroenterology at Sir Ganga Ram Hospital.

The patient, who did not wish to be named, had been experiencing some discomfort and abdominal pain for six months. He dismissed it as regular gastric pain.

It was only after he realised that he could not lie on his back, had breathing difficulty and had lost 10 kgs in three months that he thought of consulting the doctor.

The doctor meticulously planned the surgery because removing the tumour was a challenge.

“Apart from the organs, the tumour was also pressing the aorta and the inferior vena cava (blood vessels that take blood to and from the heart). We could not afford to nick them as the blood loss would be massive and within a minute the person could die. The tumour was also cancerous, which meant that we had to remove the entire thing in one go while ensuring that there is minimal blood loss,” said Dr Dhir.

The team managed to complete the surgery with just one unit of blood.