Gurugram hospital claims to have removed world’s largest chest tumour

New Delhi, October 21

Doctors at a private hospital claimed to have removed the world largest tumour, weighing 13.85 kg, from the chest of a 25-year-old man, according to a statement.

According to the available medical literature and published papers, the largest chest tumour removed till date prior to this case was in Gujarat in 2015 weighing 9.5 kg, the statement added.

The patient was admitted to Fortis Memorial Research Institute in Gurugram in an extremely critical condition, it said.

The patient was experiencing breathlessness and extreme uneasiness in the chest, and was not able to sleep straight on the bed due to breathing trouble for the last two-three months, it added.

During evaluation at another city hospital, a pulmonologist had advised a chest CT scan. Its report indicated a massive tumour in the chest which was occupying more than 90 per cent of the chest area, engulfing the heart and displacing both lungs which led to only 10 per cent of the lungs functioning, the statement said.

In addition to the criticality of the surgery, the patient had a very rare blood group—AB negative.

Speaking about the surgery, Dr. Udgeath Dhir, Director and Head, CTVS, Fortis Hospital, Gurugram, said, “It was a four-hour surgery which involved opening of both the sides of the chest and cutting the chest bone (sternum) in between.

“In technical terms, we call it clam shell incision. The tumour owing to its vast size couldn’t be removed through minimal invasive surgery and thus it was required to be cut in order to enable the removal of the gigantic tumour from the patient’s chest.”

Throughout the procedure, maintaining adequate blood flow was critical, he added.

“This was a high risk surgery owing to the bulk of the tumour which had occupied the entire chest making it difficult to operate on multiple vessels as the neck of the tumour couldn’t be controlled and the capsule of the tumour cannot be breached,” he said.

After the surgery, the patient was shifted to the ICU and was initially was on ventilator support but later weaned off.

“However, the carbon dioxide in his blood started rising owing to which his lungs which had initially contracted started expanding leading to re-expansion Pulmonary Edema (RPE). We tried to manage this conservatively without invasive ventilator support, but after 48 hours had to put him back on ventilator,” the doctor said.

Considering his condition, doctors had to perform a tracheostomy, in which a mini hole was created in the neck so that the secretions could be extracted since the patient had also developed dense adhesions in his heart.

“The patient stayed in ICU for 39 days’ post which he was shifted to room and his tracheostomy was removed. The patient is doing well, and on bare minimal oxygen support,” Dhir said. —PTI

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