DOCTORS have removed a giant “pumpkin-shaped” tumour from a woman’s stomach – after months of agony.
Kavita Kalam went to the hospital after putting up with immense pain in her abdomen for the last seven months.
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The 38-year-old told doctors at Acharya Vinoba Bhave Hospital in Wardha, India, she had lost her husband a few years ago and couldn’t afford medical treatment.
It was only when she started getting breathing problems that she was brought to the hospital with the help of villagers who pooled £55.
Medics said that when she got to the hospital she had a huge lump in her stomach, bigger than a “pregnancy bump”.
They carried out tests on the mum-of-one and found an ovarian cyst that had grown to 106cm and weighed a whopping 40lbs.
‘Biggest cyst I’ve operated on’
Dr Arpita Jaiswal Singam, professor gynaecologist, said: “This is the biggest cyst I have operated on.
“It was so large that it took up 95 per cent of the patient’s abdomen with an abdominal circumference of 106cm.”
The doctors said the surgery was challenging due to the size of cyst and it was difficult to remove without spilling the fluid contents in the abdominal cavity.
Dr Abhishek Kothule, another gynaecologist, said: “The patient was not fit for general anaesthesia.
“After discussion with senior anaesthetist we decided to operate in spinal anaesthesia and epidural analgesia.
“Considering the limitations of anaesthesia, the extent of the incision was limited up to umbilicus only.”
Tricky procedure
They discovered that the woman’s ovary had merged in the mass and her Fallopian tube had thinned out.
There were also chances that she could slip into hypovolemic shock, which can be life-threatening and lead to organ failure.
The doctors took out the cyst by taking an incision of 2cm above the pubic bone to the belly button.
Dr Abhishek said: “It was difficult to remove such large cyst through limited space.”
“Due to sudden decompression of tumour, the patient could have land up in hypovolemic shock so considering limited margins for extension of incision removing intact cyst with gradual decompression from limited space was main challenge.
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“If the tumour was not removed on right time, it could have ruptured her abdomen.”
The woman weighed nearly 9st before the surgery and her weight came down to just under 6st after the cyst was removed.
She is stable now and her food intake has improved.
