Surgeons remove rare 24kg tumour from patient’s abdomen

DOCTORS at the Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College (JNMC) in Aligarh Muslim University (AMU), India, have successfully removed a 24kg tumour from the stomach of a patient.

The patient, 45, a resident of Chharra in Aligarh district, had been carrying the tumour in his stomach for almost one-and-a-half years.

The tumour was removed from his abdomen by a team of surgeons in a complex surgery.

Professor Hasan Harris said: “The patient was suffering from the ill-effects of his tumour since 2018. At that time, he hardly knew what he was heading towards, complaining of severe stomach aches. He described how he took painkillers to treat the pain that would start from one side of his stomach and move towards the other side, and then to the centre of the abdomen, making it difficult for him to perform routine activities.”

He said that the patient visited hospitals in Uttar Pradesh and Delhi, to no avail. The private hospitals wanted exorbitant fees to assist him and many low-budget health centres turned him down because of the pandemic load.

“When he reached JNMC, we immediately conducted the pre-surgery investigations. The tests revealed that the only option was surgery, which was rare and risky as the malignant tumour was suppressing his major organs,” he said.

The tumour was finally removed after a four-hour surgery and the patient is now recovering.

AMU vice-chancellor Professor Tariq Mansoor said: “It is very rare to see a tumour grow to such an extent, but the doctors turned all odds in the patient’s favour, giving him a new life.”